Thales Navigation Mobile Mapper User Manual

MobileMapper

™

User Manual

www.thalesnavigation.com

THALES NAVIGATION

Table of Contents

Introduction to the MobileMapper System......................................................... 1

MobileMapper Field Unit............................................................................ 3

Keypad Description ............................................................................................ 3

Installing the Batteries .................................................................................. 4

Turning Power On/Off .................................................................................. 4

Setting the Screen Backlight......................................................................... 5

Setting the Units............................................................................................ 5

Getting a Position Fix ...................................................................................5

Initialization for First-Time Use......................................................................... 6

GIS Data Logging Functions.............................................................................. 9

Feature Libraries ...........................................................................................9

Logging New GPS/GIS Data...................................................................... 10

Creating a Job and selecting a Feature Library........................................................10

Logging and Describing a Point Feature..................................................................10

Logging and Describing a Line Feature...................................................................11

Logging and Describing an Area Feature ................................................................13

Repeating a Feature..................................................................................................14

Nesting a Feature......................................................................................................15

Offsetting a Point Feature ........................................................................................16

Offsetting a Line or Area Feature ............................................................................17

Logging GIS Data on a Preset Grid Network ..........................................................18

Changing the Parameters of a Grid Network Before Logging GIS Data.................20

Closing a Job............................................................................................................21

GPS Accuracy............................................................................................. 22

GPS Quality Indicators ............................................................................... 22

Revisiting and Updating Existing GPS/GIS Jobs ....................................... 23

General Procedure....................................................................................................23

Repositioning a Point Feature ..................................................................................25

Adding More Features and Attributes to the Job .....................................................25

Closing the Job.........................................................................................................25

Navigation Screens........................................................................................... 26

Map Screen ................................................................................................. 26

Compass Screen .......................................................................................... 31

Large Data Screen....................................................................................... 32

Position Screens.......................................................................................... 33

Road Screen ................................................................................................ 35

Data Screen ................................................................................................. 36

Speedometer Screen.................................................................................... 37

Satellite Status Screen................................................................................. 38

Customizing Data Fields on Navigation Screens........................................ 38

GOTO Function................................................................................................ 39

Purpose........................................................................................................ 39

Destination Point Types .............................................................................. 39

Selecting a GIS Feature as the Destination Point .......................................39

Selecting a POI as the Destination Point .................................................... 40

Saving Your Current Position as a Waypoint ............................................. 41

Creating a Waypoint With the Map Cursor ................................................ 41

Editing/Deleting a User Waypoint.............................................................. 42

Routes ............................................................................................................... 43

GOTO Route ............................................................................................... 43

Multi-leg Route........................................................................................... 43

i

Creating a Multi-leg Route.......................................................................................43

Creating a Multi-leg Route from the Track History .................................................44

Activating/deactivating a Multi-Leg Route ..............................................................44

Other Functions Tied to Routes................................................................................45

MENU button ................................................................................................... 46

Open Job ..................................................................................................... 48

New Job....................................................................................................... 48

Mark ............................................................................................................ 48

GOTO.......................................................................................................... 49

Routes.......................................................................................................... 49

Setup Menu ................................................................................................. 49

Initialize.................................................................................................................... 49

Select Map................................................................................................................50

Map Setup.................................................................................................................50

Nav Screens..............................................................................................................50

Coord System ...........................................................................................................51

Map Datum...............................................................................................................52

Elev Mode ................................................................................................................52

Time Format.............................................................................................................53

Units .........................................................................................................................53

Alarms ......................................................................................................................54

North Reference .......................................................................................................55

Daylight Saving........................................................................................................55

Power Off Timer ......................................................................................................56

Contrast ....................................................................................................................56

Light Timer...............................................................................................................56

Beeper.......................................................................................................................57

Clear Memory...........................................................................................................57

NMEA ......................................................................................................................58

Baud Rate .................................................................................................................58

Power Key................................................................................................................59

Simulate....................................................................................................................59

Language ..................................................................................................................60

Delete Files ................................................................................................. 61

About........................................................................................................... 61

MobileMapper Office Software................................................................ 63

Introduction....................................................................................................... 63

Installing MobileMapper Office....................................................................... 64

Launching MobileMapper Office ..................................................................... 64

MobileMapper Office Main Window...............................................................65

Map Display Area............................................................................................. 66

Controlling the Content of the Map Display Area...................................... 66

Making Measurements on the Map Display Area....................................... 68

Deleting Features ........................................................................................ 68

Working on Job Files........................................................................................ 69

Creating a New Job..................................................................................... 69

Connecting the Handheld to the PC............................................................ 70

Uploading a Job to the Handheld................................................................ 71

Downloading a Completed Job from the Handheld.................................... 72

Downloading a job file.............................................................................................73

Deleting a file from the handheld............................................................................. 73

Viewing the Content of a Job...................................................................... 74

Exporting Jobs in GIS Formats................................................................... 75

Using the Feature Library Editor...................................................................... 76

Introduction................................................................................................. 76

Creating a New, Standalone Feature Library File....................................... 78

Inserting New Features to the Feature Library ........................................... 79

ii

Defining Feature Attributes ........................................................................ 80

Defining Attribute Values........................................................................... 81

Renaming a Feature, Defining its Representation on the Map ................... 82

Deleting Features, Attributes or Attribute Values ...................................... 83

Saving a Feature Library............................................................................. 84

Attaching a Feature Library to a Job........................................................... 84

Importing a Feature Library from a Job or GIS File................................... 85

Uploading a standalone feature library file................................................. 85

Grid Mapper Utility .......................................................................................... 86

Introduction................................................................................................. 86

Grid Features vs. Grid Points...................................................................... 86

Setting up a Grid Feature in a Feature Library file..................................... 87

Editing the Grid Properties ......................................................................... 87

Uploading the Grid Feature to the Receiver ............................................... 89

Using the Waypoint/Route Editor .................................................................... 90

Introduction................................................................................................. 90

Placing Waypoints ...................................................................................... 90

Creating Waypoints from the Waypoint Table........................................... 91

Finding a Waypoint on the Map ................................................................. 92

Deleting Waypoints..................................................................................... 92

Building a Route ......................................................................................... 93

Background Maps............................................................................................. 94

Introduction................................................................................................. 94

Creating a New Background Map Project .................................................. 96

Adding Layers to a Background Map Project............................................. 97

Changing the Order of Layers..................................................................... 98

Removing Layers ........................................................................................ 98

Changing the Visual Aspect of Layers ....................................................... 99

Building the Background Map.................................................................... 99

Selecting a Background Map for Display................................................. 100

Setting a Map Region................................................................................ 101

Uploading a Background Map .................................................................. 101

Coordinate System.......................................................................................... 103

Introduction to Coordinate Systems and Datums .....................................103

Coordinate Systems in MobileMapper Office .......................................... 107

Selecting a Pre-defined Coordinate System.............................................. 108

Selecting an existing Geodetic system...................................................................108

Selecting an existing Grid system..........................................................................108

Defining the height system.....................................................................................109

Enabling the chosen coordinate system .................................................................109

Creating a New Coordinate System .......................................................... 109

Creating a new Geodetic system............................................................................109

Creating a new Grid system...................................................................................110

Print Function ................................................................................................. 112

Appendices ................................................................................................113

Specifications.................................................................................................. 113

Installing a Memory Card............................................................................... 114

Connecting MobileMapper to an External Device ......................................... 115

Connecting MobileMapper to an External Power Source.............................. 116

Glossary .......................................................................................................... 117

Index ............................................................................................................... 119

iii

iv

Introduction to the MobileMapper System

The MobileMapper system from Thales Navigation is com-
posed of two main elements: the MobileMapper receiver and
MobileMapper Office software running on a PC-type com­puter.

The MobileMapper receiver is a handheld navigation and
positioning device that enables you to describe the features
being mapped and then format the data so that later it can be
uploaded to a GIS. It offers an easy-to-use and easy-to-de­ploy solution for general mapping and for asset manage­ment.

MobileMapper combines all the navigation capabilities of a
recreational handheld with feature attributing software to
support GIS data collection in the field.

The MobileMapper receiver and its main functions are fully
described in Section 1 in this manual.

MobileMapper Office is an office software suite that inter­faces the MobileMapper receiver with your GIS system. Mo-
bileMapper Office allows you to prepare GIS jobs, feature
libraries and waypoint files, build background maps from
GIS data files and manage the information logged in the field
(upload/download functions).

The MobileMapper Office software and its mains functions
are fully described in Section 2 in this manual.

All functions relative to data exchange between MobileMap-
per and MobileMapper Office are also detailed in Section 2.

Finally, the Appendices section in this manual covers a num­ber of topics such as product specifications, SD card instal­lation, connectors & cables and glossary of terms used.

Please note that a printed Getting Started Guide is included
in your MobileMapper system. This short, multilingual
guide, which is presented in a tutorial form, is intended to
help you complete your first job. Practising with this guide
will allow you to understand the essentials of the system.

1

2

The scrolling button

has three different

functions:

• It is used to move the
cursor in the chosen

direction, from a data

field to another, from an

option in a menu to the

previous or next option.

• In a highlighted field,
the left/right arrow

moves the cursor back-

ward/forward; The up/

down arrow increments/

decrements the high-

lighted figure or string.

• On the Map screen, a

navigation screen, this

button allows you to

switch to cursor mode
and then to move the cur­sor in ALL directions, not

only the left, right, up

and down directions.

1. MobileMapper Field Unit

Keypad Description

Under the screen you will see 8 buttons located around a
large oval “scrolling” button with 4 directional arrows on it.

IN/OUT: Use these but­tons to zoom in and out
when viewing a screen
with a map displayed.

ESC: Takes you back to
the previous screen with­out effecting any changes.

NAV: Takes you to the
various navigation
screens where you can lo­cate yourself and navigate
to waypoints and GIS fea­tures.

LOG: Lets you create a

ESC

NAV

new job or open an exist­ing one. With a job and a

LOG

feature already open,
pressing LOG takes you to
the feature attribute screen. With an open job, but no open
feature, pressing LOG takes you to the feature selection
screen.

ENTER: Use this button to accept highlighted input and to
initiate various unit functions.

MENU: Provides access to a variety of functions such as set­ting up and initializing the receiver, selecting targets to nav­igate to and various GIS logging features.

PWR button: Turns on and off the unit. Also turns the back­light on if you hold it down for two seconds (until the back­light level changes).

GPS antenna (inside the housing)

Display
Screen

IN

Scrolling button

OUT

ENTER

MENU

PWR

3

Battery Life

You can expect up to 16

operating hours from 2
Li-ion AA batteries with
the backlight turned off.
Using the backlight will

shorten the battery life

significantly. With the

backlight on continu­ously, you can expect

about up to 8 hours of

usage from the two Li-ion

batteries that came with

your MobileMapper.

The very first time you

use your MobileMapper,

or after erasing all the
data from memory, the

Power-On procedure is

longer than described

here because the unit
having no position in

memory, initialization is

needed to help the unit

track satellites (see 1st-

time use on page 6).

Power Down Screen

Installing the Batteries

MobileMapper uses two AA
batteries that are installed
from the back through the bat­tery cover. To remove the bat­tery cover, push the two
buttons on the cover fully to
the left and lift the battery
cover away from the receiver.

Insert the new batteries as
shown opposite, making sure
that the batteries are installed with the correct polarity. Re­place the cover and push the two buttons fully to the right.
Verify that the cover is locked in place.

Turning Power On/Off

In the Power-On procedure described below, it is assumed
that the unit has already been used in a working session and
so position data is available from the former working session
to help MobileMapper compute its position.

• To turn the unit on, press the PWR button. The Start-up
screen appears, followed by the Database Copyright
screen and the Agreement screen. After accepting the
warning information, the last navigation screen you were
viewing at the end of the last session will be displayed.

If the last navigation screen view was the Map screen,
the last zoom scale setting will be used.

• To turn the unit off, press the PWR button. The Power
Down screen is displayed.

Doing nothing will turn off the unit at the end of the
countdown sequence.

Pressing the PWR button again will turn off the unit
immediately.

Pressing ESC will cancel the Power Down sequence.

4

To prevent accidently

turning the backlight on
and leaving it on, the unit
will turn the backlight off

when there have been no

buttons pressed for 4

minutes. Pressing any

button will turn the back-

light back on in this

instance. You can change

the time delay for the

backlight using the Light

Timer option in the Setup

menu (see page 56).

Units Screen

Setting the Screen Backlight

The screen backlight can be set to one of three levels (low,
high or off). At power on, the screen backlight is set to high
level. Follow the sequence below to choose another level:

- Hold down the PWR button for 2 seconds : Backlight
drops down to low level

- Hold down the PWR button again for 2 seconds: Back­light turns off.

- Hold down the PWR button again for 2 seconds: Back­light comes back to high-level illumination.

Using the backlight makes the screen display easier to see,
but it also drains the batteries more quickly.

Setting the Units

To change the units that MobileMapper will use:

- Press MENU. Use the up/down arrows to highlight
and press ENTER

- Use the up/down arrows to highlight

Units and press

ENTER.

- Use the up/down arrows to highlight the set of units you
want and press ENTER. Press ESC to return to the last
screen viewed

Setup

Holding the unit

You can observe the sig­nal strength and the sat-

ellites being used on the

Satellite Status screen

(see page 8).

Getting a Position Fix

The unit is designed to fit comfortably in your hand. Hold
the MobileMapper in the palm of your hand with the antenna
pointing towards the sky.

MobileMapper’s antenna needs to have a relatively unob­structed view of the sky. This allows the unit to choose from
all satellites currently available.

If the view of the sky is poor due to large cliffs or buildings,
heavy foliage or other obstructions, the satellite signals can
be blocked and the receiver may take longer to compute a
position fix.

5

Skipping Initialization

You can skip the initial­ization process by press­ing the NAV key anytime

after selecting the lan-

guage you want

MobileMapper to use

and accepting the agree-

ment. If MobileMapper is

able to collect satellite

data (i.e., have a clear

view of the sky) it will

begin to self-initialize.

This could take anywhere

from 3 to 14 minutes to

compute its position,

depending on how many

weeks have elapsed since

it was last used.

Initialization for First-Time Use

MobileMapper will walk you through the process of setting
up the receiver for first time use. This procedure is common­ly referred to as “Initializing the Receiver”. The purpose of
this initialization is to provide MobileMapper with a general
knowledge of its approximate location.

This may seem a little confusing at first as why does a device
that is used to compute its position need to know where it’s
at? MobileMapper uses information from the GPS satellites
that orbit the Earth and if MobileMapper has an approximate
idea as to its location, it will refer to the almanac it has in
memory to select what satellites are overhead. From this in­formation, MobileMapper can then select the satellites that
will give it the best information for computing its location.

Under normal use, MobileMapper will save the last position
it calculated and use that position the next time it is turned
on. However, when MobileMapper is new (or when memory
has been completely erased), it has no last position informa­tion. Thus, MobileMapper can either start polling the satel­lites to see which ones are overhead or you can provide it
with your approximate location allowing MobileMapper to
begin computing the initial position, known as “first fix.”

Start-up, Copyright &

Language Screens

6

Follow these instructions to initialize MobileMapper:

1. Turn MobileMapper on by pressing the PWR button. The
unit turns on and displays the start-up screen, followed
by the Database Copyright screen and the language
selection screen.

2. Select your language using the up/down arrow to move
the cursor to this language. With the desired language
highlighted, press the ENTER button. The Warning
screen is then displayed for about 10 seconds.

Region & Area Screens

Time & Date Screens

3. If you understand and agree to the warning presented,
press ENTER before the 10 seconds have elapsed. Other­wise, the unit will shut off. A message box is then dis­played indicating that the unit needs to be initialized.

4. Press ENTER. The unit asks you to select your region
and area. Use the up/down arrows to highlight your gen­eral region and press ENTER. Again, use the up/down
arrows to highlight your area and press ENTER.

5. The cursor appears in the

Time field, waiting for you to

input your local time. Please enter the time in 0-12 hr.
format, not in 0-24 hr. format. Set your local time using
the arrow keys as follows: use the up arrow to increment
the highlighted figure, or the down arrow to decrement it.
Then press the right arrow to highlight the next figure.
Set this figure now using the up or down arrow, etc. Be
sure that you set the AM/PM indicator. When the time is
correct, press ENTER.

The last piece of information needed is the date. As
above, using the arrow keys, enter the present date and
then press ENTER.

All the information that the unit needs to speed up the
process of computing its first fix has been entered and
the

Done field is highlighted.

7

Satellite Signal

Stre ngth Cha rt:

Clear bars indicate that

the unit is starting to get

information from satel-

lites. Solid bars indicate

that the satellites are

being used to compute

your position.

Satellite Position

Graph:

The 2 circles indicate

satellite elevation as seen

from your current posi-

tion. The outer circle rep-

resents the horizon and

the inner circle repre-

sents 45° from the hori-

zon. The center of the

circle is 90° from the

horizon, or directly over-

head.

6. To complete the initialization process, press ENTER
again. The Satellite Status screen is displayed and
MobileMapper begins acquiring the data from satellites.

Watching the bars appear and turn solid on the screen,
you can progressively see the unit lock onto satellites.

Satellite Positions

in the Sky & Numbers

(W for WAAS

or EGNOS)

Satellite Position Graph

Satellite Signal Strength Chart

Battery Life Indicator

Once the first position fix has been computed, the Map
screen is automatically displayed. This screen shows a
map of the area where you are located. Your current posi­tion is represented by a triangle located at the center of
the screen (see also page 26).

Initialization is now complete and you can proceed to
your job.

8

A feature library is a

hierarchical structure

that guides you through

the description process

so you know you will
describe thoroughly and
quickly each feature you

visit. You will not have to

attributes of each feature

tlight” point feature, as

Feature libraries are cre-

Library Editor module in

remember what

you should record: the
feature library will tell

Example of a “stree-

may be described in a

feature library

List Attribute

of streetlight

Condition

# of bulbs

Closest
Street
Address

ated using the Feature

MobileMapper Office.

attributes

values

- Good

- Needs repair

- Needs paint

Enter
numeric value

Typ e in
address

you!

GIS Data Logging Functions

Feature Libraries

Feature libraries contain lists of features that you should be
visiting during your field sessions.

Features are four types:

- Point feature: The geometrical representation of this fea­ture is a point. Logging this type of feature requires static
occupation at the point.

- Line feature: The geometrical representation of this fea­ture is a line. Logging this type of feature requires that
you move along this line.

- Area feature: The geometrical representation of this fea­ture is an area. Logging this type of feature requires that
you move along its contour or you make several static
occupations if it is a regular area (with straight sides).

- Grid feature: The geometrical representation of this fea­ture is an array of evenly-distributed waypoints.
MobileMapper will guide you to each of these waypoints
where you should enter a measurement performed at this
point.

Each feature also has a number of attributes. There are three
categories of attributes:

- Menu style where the attribute values are words or
phrases that you pick off a list (e.g. Condition attribute
opposite)

- Numeric style where you select a number within a speci­fied range (e.g. # of Bulbs attribute opposite)

- Text style where you type in a note that can contain both
numbers and letters (e.g. Closest Street Address attribute
opposite)

You can input as many as five feature libraries into Mo­bileMapper. Just remember that you can use only one feature
library for logging data to an individual job.

9

Entering a job name

The keyboard is fitted

with special keys such as

the CLEAR key to clear

the job name field, the

Shift key to switch

between upper and

lower-case, the back-

space key to delete the

last entered character

and a space key.

Note that a “Generic”

library containing

default features is cre-

ated in MobileMapper at

power on. This library

contains a point feature,

a line feature, an area

feature and a grid fea-

ture. Each of these fea-

tures has a single text-

style attribute. Use this

library only as “backup”

library.

MobileMapper uses a
fixed, time-based log-

ging interval (1 second)
when you log a point fea­ture. The logging interval

parameter cannot be

accessed when you log a

point feature.

Logging New GPS/GIS Data

Prior to starting logging GIS data, be sure MobileMapper is
computing your position when you stand near the first fea­ture you want to log.

Press NAV until you display the Map screen. If an arrow is
displayed at the center of the Map screen and you can see
that your position on the screen is the expected one, then you
can start your job. Follow the instructions below to log GIS
features.

1. Creating a Job and selecting a Feature Library

- Press the LOG button

- Select the
The screen displays the
should enter the name of the new job. A keyboard is
displayed underneath to let you enter this name.

To use the keyboard, press the arrow keys to move
the cursor over the keyboard. For example, if the job
name is “JB010”, highlight “J” using the arrow keys
and press ENTER. Then select “B” and press
ENTER, etc.

- When you have finished entering the name, highlight
the
screen is then displayed listing the feature libraries
stored in MobileMapper

- Use the down/up arrow to highlight the library you
want to work from and press ENTER. The screen
now lists all the features available from the selected
feature library.

2. Logging and Describing a Point Feature

- Choose the type of feature you want to log from this
list. You can tell by the name of this feature whether
it is a point feature, a line feature or an area feature.

- Highlight a point feature (you are supposed to be near
one of these features) and press ENTER. This starts
feature logging.

Create New Job option and press ENTER.

Job Name field in which you

OK key on the screen and press ENTER. A new

10

Logging screen

The Logging screen also

displays the time elapsed

since you started log­ging at this point fea-

ture, the number of

satellites currently

received and the current

value of PDOP (see also

page 22).

If you start logging a new

feature and you realize

you this is a mistake, then

you can delete the new

feature being logged by

pressing MENU and

selecting Delete <fea-

ture name>.

Deleting features only

applies to new features

being logged, not to fea-

tures already logged.

The Logging screen is now displayed where you can
see the list of attributes pertaining to this feature. You
will now enter the “Description” phase of the feature

- With the first attribute highlighted, press ENTER and
choose the right attribute value describing the feature
near you and press ENTER. This takes you back to
the Logging screen.

- Highlight the next attribute in the list and repeat the
previous step. Repeat this step until all the attributes
have been properly described.

“Describing” the feature only takes a few seconds.
By the time you are done with the feature description,
the feature’s GPS position will probably have been
saved in the job. You can also stay more time on the
feature to let the receiver determine several positions.
This will give an even more accurate position for the
feature as MobileMapper will average all the GPS
positions it has computed on the feature.

- To stop logging the feature, on the Logging screen,
use the down arrow to highlight the

Close field and

press ENTER. This takes you back to the Feature List
screen

- Move to the next feature and resume the above
instructions to log this feature.

3. Logging and Describing a Line Feature

Basically, you use the same procedure as when you log a
point feature (see 2. above). There are however two dif­ferences when you log a line feature:

- You need to define a logging interval when you start
logging the feature

- And then you are supposed to move from the begin­ning to the end of the line feature before stopping the
logging.

These differences are explained below.

11

Selecting the logging

interval option

Logging screen

The Logging screen also

displays the distance

traveled since you

started logging the line

feature, the number of

satellites currently

received and the current

value of PDOP (see also

page 22).

After highlighting a line feature from the Feature List
screen (for example a road) and pressing ENTER,
MobileMapper starts logging GPS positions from the
position where you are. The first time you log a line area,
and then every time you think this is necessary:

- Press MENU, highlight

Logging Interval and press

ENTER. Two options are then prompted:

By Time: Select this option when you want

MobileMapper to log a new GPS position at regular
intervals of time regardless of the distance traveled
since the last position logged. After highlighting this
option, press ENTER, choose a time interval from the
list and press ENTER. This takes you back to the
Logging screen where you can see the list of
attributes pertaining to the feature.

By Distance: Select this option when you want

MobileMapper to log a new GPS position only after
you have moved by a certain distance since the last
position logged. After highlighting this option, press
ENTER, choose a distance interval from the list and
press ENTER. This takes you back to the Logging
screen where you can see the list of attributes pertain­ing to the feature.

- Like with a point feature, describe the feature by

describing the different attributes pertaining to the
feature

- When the description is finished, you can start walk-

ing along the line feature

- When you arrive at the end of the line feature, with

MobileMapper still displaying the Logging screen,
highlight the

Close field at the bottom of the screen

and press ENTER to stop logging the feature.

12

Irregular area

Regular area

Logging screen

The Logging screen also

displays the current

value of area measured

since you started log-

ging the feature, the

number of satellites cur-

rently received and the

current value of PDOP

(see also page 22).

4. Logging and Describing an Area Feature

Basically, you use the same procedure as when you log a
line feature, especially regarding the need for defining a
logging interval (see 3. above).

What is new when you log an area feature is that you can
use one of the following two methods:

- The first method should be used when contours of
areas are irregular. This method is similar to logging
a line area in that you have to move along the con­tour, but you also have to come back to the start point
so that MobileMapper can accurately measure the
area.

- The second method applies to areas with regular con­tours, i.e. those with straight sides. With such areas,
you just have to go to each corner of the area, make
static occupation there and pause the logging between
static occupations. MobileMapper will deduce the
area after you log the last corner and you close the
feature.

Use the same procedure as on page 11 when you choose
the first method.

When the shape of the area allows you to use the second
method, do the following after arriving at one of the cor­ners and with the Attribute List displayed on your
MobileMapper:

- Select the name of the area feature from the list of
features and press ENTER. MobileMapper starts log­ging the area feature.

- Choose a time-based logging interval (see explana­tions given for a line area on page 12). This takes you
back to the Logging screen where the list of attributes
for the feature is displayed

- Describe each attribute by selecting or entering the
appropriate attribute value for each of them. (Note
that you have to do this only once, not on each corner
of the area.)

13

Selecting the Pause

Park option

Selecting the Repeat

Feature option

By the time you are done with the description,
MobileMapper will probably have logged the GPS
position of the corner.

- Now, press MENU, highlight

Pause <feature name> and

press ENTER. This pauses the logging of the feature.

- Move to the next corner of the area where you can

now resume logging the feature

- To do this, press MENU, highlight

name>

and press ENTER. This resumes the logging.

Resume <feature

- Resume the previous three steps until all the corners

of the area have been visited.

- After logging the GPS position of the last corner,

highlight

Close at the bottom of the screen and press

ENTER. This closes the logging of the area feature.

5. Repeating a Feature

If you close a feature and want to log the location of
another feature of the same type and with an identical
description, use Mobile Mapper’s Repeat Feature func­tion.

- After closing a feature, MobileMapper takes you back to
the Feature List screen. Then do the following:

- Move to the next similar feature you want to log

- Then press MENU, highlight

Repeat Feature and press

ENTER. This starts feature logging. Note that the
feature has the same attribute description as the
former one

- After logging the GPS position(s) of this feature,
highlight the

Close field and press ENTER to close

the feature.

14

6. Nesting a Feature

When you are logging GPS positions to a feature, you
may find another feature that you also want to log.
Rather than log the entire feature and come back to
record this other feature, you can simply pause the fea­ture being logged, log the other feature, close it and
resume logging the first feature.

Logging one feature while you have paused another fea­ture is called “nesting.” You can nest any feature, point
line or area, into any line or area feature. Its does not
make sense to nest a feature into a point feature.

Nesting is particularly useful when you are mapping
things such as a road with streetlamps along the route or
a shoreline with stretches of erosion along it and the
locations of certain habitats.

Assuming you are logging a line feature and the Logging
screen is displayed, do the following, for example to nest
a point feature:

- Press MENU, highlight

Nest Feature and press

ENTER. This pauses the logging of the line feature.

- Move to the location of the feature you want to nest

- In the Feature List screen now displayed, highlight
the feature you want to nest and press ENTER

- Describe the attributes of the feature as you would
normally do

-Highlight

Close at the bottom of the screen and press

ENTER. This closes the nested feature and takes you
back to the Logging screen of the paused feature

- Press MENU, highlight

Resume <feature name> and

press ENTER. This takes you back to the Logging
screen from which you can normally finish the log­ging of this feature.

15

Point Offset screen

If you do not have a com-

pass, you can use

MobileMapper’s Com-

pass screen (see also

page 31) to determine the

bearing to the offset fea-

ture. If you have been

moving for 5 to 10 sec-

onds along a straight

line, the Compass screen

will tell you your bear­ing. You can use this to

determine the bearing to

the offset feature. CAU-

TION! The receiver can-

not determine direction

while stationary.

Visual estimation for

horz. & vert. distances is

usually good enough in

terms of accuracy.

7. Offsetting a Point Feature

Sometimes the feature you want to put on the map is in
area of poor GPS reception or is not accessible. This is
when you can map the feature using the offset utility. By
combining the receiver’s position with the bearing and
distance to the feature, MobileMapper will automatically
calculate and record the position of the feature.

To input an offset for a point feature, assuming the Fea­ture List screen is now displayed, do the following:

- Highlight one of the listed point features available

from the selected feature library and press ENTER

- Press MENU, highlight

Offset and press ENTER. This

displays the Point Offset screen on which you should
enter the following parameters:

Bearing: Compass direction to the feature from your

current position. You need a compass to measure this
angle (see also opposite). To input a value for

Bearing,

press ENTER and increment or decrement the high­lighted number using the up/down arrows. To edit
another digit, use the left/right arrows. When you are
done, press ENTER again. Press the down arrow to
move the cursor to the next field.

Horz. Distance: Horizontal distance to the feature from

your current position. Enter a value for
as described above for

Bearing. When you are done,

Horz. Distance

press ENTER again.

Vert. Distance: Vertical distance to the feature from

your current position (“0” if the feature and yourself
are at the same elevation -on a flat area). Enter a
value for

Vert. Distance as described above for Bearing.

When you are done, press ENTER again.

- Then press ESC to return to the Logging screen. This

writes the offset into memory, but you can edit it later
if you like by going through the same process. If you
close the feature and return to the Map screen, you
will see that the feature is offset from your position in
the middle of the screen.

16

Line or Area Offset

screen

Line Area

On the left On the right

Visual estimation for

horz. & vert. distances is

usually good enough in

terms of accuracy.

8. Offsetting a Line or Area Feature

For the same reasons as a point feature (see previous
page), you may need to use the offset utility to map a line
or area feature. By combining the receiver’s position
with the direction and the distance to the feature,
MobileMapper will automatically calculate and record
the location of the feature.

To input an offset for a line or area feature, assuming the
Feature List screen is now displayed, do the following:

- Highlight one of the features available from the open
feature library and press ENTER.

- Press MENU, highlight

Offset and press ENTER. This

displays the Line or Area Offset screen on which you
should enter the following parameters:

Direction: Location of the feature with respect to your

actual path. To input a value for

Direction, press

ENTER, choose one of the two options (Right or
Left) and press ENTER again. Press the down arrow
to move the cursor to the next field.

Horz. Distance: Horizontal distance to the feature from

your current position. To input a value for

tance

, press ENTER and increment or decrement the

Horz. Dis-

highlighted number using the up/down arrows. To
edit another digit, use the left/right arrows. When you
are done, press ENTER again. Press the down arrow
to move the cursor to the next field.

Vert. Distance: Vertical distance to the feature from

your current position (“0” if the feature and yourself
are at the same elevation -on a flat area). Enter a
value for

tance

Vert. Distance as described above for Horz. Dis-

. When you are done, press ENTER again.

- Then press ESC to return to the Logging screen. This
writes the offset into memory, but you can edit it later
if you like by going through the same process. If you
close the feature and return to the Map screen, you
will see that the feature is offset from your position in
the middle of the screen.

17

To operate the grid map-

ping utility, you will need

a measurement device -

anything from a depth

sounder to a ruler, your

own sense of smell or

your ability to make

visual observations. You

will also need a compass.

North

Heading

Column

How a grid is defined in

Spacing

Row

MobileMapper

9. Logging GIS Data on a Preset Grid Network

MobileMapper's grid mapping utility is an easy way to
automatically set up a series of GPS waypoints to facili­tate the logging of data in an orthogonal grid. This utility
assures that you gather measurements made using field
sensors such as chemical detectors, depth sounders and
magnetometers at an evenly distributed set of locations.
This in turn assures the creation in your GIS of contour
maps with a prescribed density of data and without any
gaps that might force you to return to the field.

To log GIS data on a preset grid, do the following:

- Navigate to the waypoint of the grid where you

want to begin logging data: If you have created a
waypoint to help you locate the first grid point, you
can use any of MobileMapper's navigation screens to
get there. To access a waypoint file you can use to
navigate to the point of beginning, press the MENU
button and select the GOTO option. Then select the

User option. This will place the waypoint symbol and

label on the base map displayed on the receiver's Map
screen. Again, you may use any of MobileMapper's
navigation screens to arrive at this waypoint.

- Display the grid: Once you arrive at the point of

beginning, you should open up the job file that
includes the feature library describing the grid. If you
opened an existing job, press LOG to take you to the
New Feature screen. Then select the grid feature type
listed on the screen. Usually the term “grid” is
included somewhere in the feature name so that you
can easily recognize this type of feature. After select­ing the grid feature, the Grid Setup screen appears on
which you can read the definition of the grid (spac­ing, columns, rows and heading).

18

It is also possible to navi­gate to any grid waypoint

(or any location for that

matter) on the Map

screen by moving the

arrow key over another

grid waypoint and press-

ing ENTER. After you

record data at this loca-

tion, the Next Pt field may

still be selected to go to

the next grid waypoint in

the network.

- Record an observation or measurement: With the

OK field highlighted, just press ENTER. This takes

you to the Logging screen that indicates that you
have begun logging data to the feature and that the
receiver is ready to log the feature's attributes.
Remember that you remain stationary for all point
features. Describe the feature as you would any other
point feature.

- Navigate to the next grid point: When you have fin­ished recording the first point feature, you can select

Next Pt at the bottom left to navigate to the next grid

waypoint and record the next point feature within the
grid. This takes you to the Map screen where you can
see your current position marked by the arrow and
the next grid waypoint highlighted with a “crossed
box” target symbol. Small red circles indicate the
locations of all the unvisited grid waypoints. The
locations of where you recorded point feature are
indicated by small black squares.

As you begin moving toward the target symbol, you
will see your heading indicated by the direction of the
arrow marking your position. Adjust your movement
as necessary until you are positioned over the target
symbol. You may also use any of the other navigation
screens available with MobileMapper. The Arrival
alarm is disabled when navigating to grid waypoints.
It is best to note your distance to the next waypoint
and stop when this value goes to zero. When you
arrive at the next grid point, press the LOG button
and you will see the same Logging screen you used
for the earlier measurement or observation.

19

Each grid waypoint is a geographic coordinate you
should make every effort to occupy so that the data
you record is evenly spaced and complete. However,
each grid waypoint is merely an aid for navigating to
the ideal location for an observation or measurement.
All the data you record is ascribed to the position of
the MobileMapper receiver and NOT to the grid way­point. If you cannot physically occupy this waypoint,
but can make the necessary visual observation, you
should do so and record an offset estimating the dis­tance and bearing to the grid waypoint. If you are
recording measurements made by an instrument, you
should NOT record an offset but rather try to make a
recording as close as possible to the position.

- When you have occupied as many of the grid way-

points as you can and recorded the necessary obser­vations and measurements at each, highlight the
field at the bottom of the Logging screen and press
ENTER. This closes the grid feature and returns you
to the New Feature selection screen where you may
either log data to another feature, even to another
grid, or close the entire job.

10.Changing the Parameters of a Grid Network Before
Logging GIS Data

When you navigate to the location of the grid, you may
decide to readjust the size and orientation of the grid
based on field observations that you did not foresee back
in the office. For example, you may find that navigating
to waypoints with an east-west orientation is not feasible
if the area of interest is situated on a narrow strip of land
between two north-south running streams.

When you change the definition of a grid, MobileMapper
always assumes that you are standing in the corner of the
grid from which you can see the grid extend in front of
you and to the right.

Close

20

Grid Setup screen

North

(Heading= 0°)

North

Heading=21°

Column

In the two examples

Columns=8

Spacing

Row

Rows=6

Column

Row

Spacing

above:

In the open job, do the following:

- On the Feature List screen, select the grid feature and
press ENTER. On the Grid Setup screen that is now
displayed, set the parameters listed below.

Spacing: Distance between any two consecutive way-

points in any row or column (default: 50 meters or
100 feet, depending on the units used)

Columns: Number of waypoints along the axis facing

you (default: 10; Max.: 100)

Rows: Number of waypoints along the axis perpendic-

ular to the direction you are facing (default: 10; Max.:

100)

Heading: Direction you face when the grid’s columns

extend in front of you and the rows extend to your
right.

To change the above parameters, use the up/down
arrows to move the cursor to each of these fields,
press ENTER, use the up/down arrows to increment/
decrement the highlighted figure, use the right/left
arrows to highlight the next/previous digit in the
field. When you are done with the definition of a
field, press ENTER. Then press the down/up arrow to
access the next field, etc.

Once these parameters have been changed, highlight

OK at the bottom of the screen and press ENTER

- This takes you to the Logging screen from which you
an start logging data as explained previously.

11.Closing a Job

To close a job, all you have to do is open up another job
or turn the receiver off. To open another job, use the

Job

option after pressing the MENU button.

Open

21

MobileMapper is also

capable of providing 3-m

horizontal accuracy

using real-time differen-

tial corrections from its

built-in WAAS/EGNOS

receiver. You must be in

North American to make

use of the free WAAS sig-

nal broadcast by the US

Federal Aviation Admin-

istration. You must be in

Europe to make use of
the free EGNOS signal
broadcast by the Euro-

pean Union. If you are

receiving a WAAS or

EGNOS signal, a “W”

appears on the screen.

GPS quality indicators

Tracking 3 satellites will

allow you to calculate a

2D position (lat/lon)

using the last altitude

recorde d by th e receiver.

You need to track at least

4 satellites to get a 3D

position (lat/lon/altitude)

GPS Accuracy

MobileMapper provides better than 10-m autonomous accu­racy around the globe assuming the receiver is tracking five
GPS satellites and the PDOP < 4 (which is almost all the
time).

If you average positions for a point feature for a few minutes,
even better accuracy is possible.

MobileMapper will warn you if your accuracy of your posi­tions has cropped below the level you selected during Setup
(see page 54,

Alarms option). If you see this warning you may

press the ESC button and continue logging. However, if you
are recording line or area features, you might want to return
to the field when the GPS satellites are in a better configura­tion overhead (the constellation changes slowly but con­stantly). And if you are recording a point feature, you should
strongly consider moving to another location with better sat­ellite reception and recording an offset (distance and bear­ing) to the feature.

GPS Quality Indicators

On each logging screen as well as on the Satellite Status
screen, you can see at the bottom two numbers that give you
a good indication of how accurate your positions should be.

The first is the number of satellites that the receiver is track­ing.

The second number is the Positional Dilution of Precision,
which is an estimate of accuracy that the receiver constantly
calculates using the geometry of satellites in the sky. The
more satellites that are being tracked and the more evenly
they are distributed around the sky, the better the accuracy.
PDOP values less than 4 or 5 are good. If the PDOP value is
over 10, you should consider moving to an area with a clear­er view of the sky and recording features with offsets.

22

Job List screen

Note that you are not

prompted to select a fea-

ture library when you
select an existing job.

This is because the

library that was selected

when the job was created

is necessarily the one

that must be used for the

job when re-opening this

job

Revisiting and Updating Existing GPS/GIS Jobs

You can use MobileMapper not only to position and de­scribe new GIS features but also to update information gath­ered previously. This is particularly useful when collecting
data on things that change over time: streetlight bulbs burn
out, new roads are added to housing developments, new
crops are planted, etc.

1. General Procedure

After you have arrived in the area of the job to be reviewed,
after you have turned on MobileMapper and made sure it
calculates your position, follow the procedure below to re­visit and update this job.

- Press the LOG button, select the
and press ENTER. MobileMapper lists all the jobs
present in its memory.

- Press the down arrow to highlight the name of the job
you want to update and press ENTER. MobileMapper
displays the navigation screen that was last used.

- Unless this screen is already displayed, press NAV
repeatedly until the Map screen is displayed. From this
screen, you will now indicate the first feature you want
to revisit. If necessary, press the IN or OUT button to
adjust the scale so you can see this feature.

- Press any arrow key to switch to the cursor mode on the
Map screen and then use the arrow keys to move the cur­sor over the feature you want to revisit first. It’s a good
idea to keep the Map info visible on the screen as it tells
you exactly when the feature is selected. (The feature
name appears in the lower part of the screen when the
cursor is positioned over the feature.)

- When this happens, press ENTER. The Selected screen
is now displayed showing the attribute values currently
ascribed to the feature. Note that the
lighted at the bottom of the screen.

Open Existing Job option

Goto field is high-

Selected screen

23

Map screen showing

straight line to target

- Press ENTER to ask MobileMapper to guide you to this
feature. If you simply press ENTER, you will make the
selected feature your destination and all the navigation
screens will be set to help you reach that feature. Press
NAV to access any of these screens. On the Map screen,
you can now see a straight line connecting your current
destination to the selected feature.

- Walk to the feature according to the navigation instruc­tions provided on the Map screen. You can use other nav­igation screens if you prefer (see also Navigation Screens
chapter from page 26). You will know when you are
close to the feature when the distance to the feature goes
to zero or close to zero, or simply because you can iden­tify it visually. Another nice way of being informed that
you have arrived at the feature is to set the

Alarms option

(see explanations on page 54)

- After arriving at the feature, press the LOG button. This
takes you back to the Selected screen.

- Now that you are near the feature, highlight the

Edit field

and press ENTER. You are now allowed to edit each of
the feature’s attributes.

- After reviewing the attributes that need to be changed,
highlight the

Close field at the bottom of the screen and

press ENTER. This ends the review of this feature and
displays the Map screen again.

- Follow the same 7 steps described above to revisit and
update the other features present in the job.

24

The Repositioning func-

tion only applies to point

features, not to line or

area features.

Selecting

Update Position

2. Repositioning a Point Feature

If a point feature appears to be mislocated on the Map screen
or if you wish to make the position more accurate (by using
an external antenna, occupying point positions for more
time, etc.), do the following once you have arrived at the fea­ture and the Selected screen showing all the feature’s at­tributes is displayed:

- Press MENU, select the

Update Position option and press

ENTER.

If you press NAV and go back to the Map screen, you
will now see two features (one at the old position, the
other at the new position). To remove the feature's old
position, just move the map cursor so that the feature is
off the screen. When you move the cursor back to the
feature, only the new position will be visible.

3. Adding More Features and Attributes to the Job

If you want to add more features and descriptions to the ex­isting job, you just have to record them exactly as you record
features into a new job.

4. Closing the Job

To close the job, all you have to do is open up another job or
turn the receiver off. To open another job, use the

Open Job

option after pressing the MENU button. You cannot acciden­tally lose data with MobileMapper without opening the re­ceiver and losing or damaging the internal memory card.

25

The Map screen has two

modes: Position and

Cursor. Use any arrow

key to select Cursor

mode, ESC to return to

Position mode

When a Position screen

is displayed, press the

Left or Right arrow key

to display the other.

Press this key again to

return to the previous

screen.

Except for the Satellite

Status screen, all naviga-

tion screens can be cus-

tomized.

Map screen

in Position mode

Navigation Screens

MobileMapper
offers 7 differ­ent navigation
screens to help

Satellite Status Screen

you locate
yourself or

Speedometer Screen

navigate to
waypoints or
point features

Data Screen

in an existing
job. From any
displayed screen, simply press the NAV button to access
navigation screens. To display the next navigation screen,
press NAV again. The sequence of navigation screens is as
shown above. It can be scrolled in the reverse direction by
pressing ESC once any of these navigation screens is dis­played.

Each type of navigation screen is presented hereafter.

Map Screen

The Map screen shows a map of the area surrounding your
current location. Use the IN and OUT buttons to adjust the
scale.

The Map screen is always in the Position mode when you ac­cess this screen. In this mode, your present position is indi­cated by the large arrow icon in the center of the display. If
you are moving, the arrow will point in the direction that you
are heading. At the bottom of the screen is the scale for the
map displayed and two data fields that can be customized, or
turned off, depending upon your needs.

The present position icon will change to an hourglass when
the MobileMapper is unable to compute a position fix due to
poor signal reception.

Map Screen

Press NAV

Compass Screen

Press NAV

Large Data Screen

etc.

Position Screen 1

Position Screen 2

Road Screen

26

Map screen in

cursor mode

The dotted line on the map displays the history of where you
have traveled since the last time you cleared the track histo­ry.

Press any of the arrow keys to switch to the Cursor mode. In
this mode, you are provided with a cross hair cursor that can
be moved on the map with the arrow keys. At the bottom of
the display is the information for the position of the cursor
relative to your present position (heading and distance). Also
any points of interest or GIS features that the cursor is over
will be shown.

To return to the Position mode, press ESC. The cursor will
disappear and the present position icon will appear centered
on the map.

To set and/or customize the Map screen, use the functions
described below. These context-sensitive functions are ac­cessed by pressing the MENU button while the Map screen
is displayed.

Show/Hide Map Info

Use this option to show or hide the two data fields displayed
at the bottom of the Map screen. To customize these fields,
see

Select Map Info below.

27

The Map screen must be

in Position mode if you

wish to customize data

fields. If the Map screen

is in cursor mode (cursor

is a cross-hair), press

ESC to return to the

Position mode

Map Setup screen,

Format tab

Select Map Info

Use this option to tell MobileMapper which data should be
displayed at the bottom of the Map screen. This can be:

-

Customize Fields. This function is equivalent to the Custom­ize

function available from all navigation screens other

than the Map screen. See page 38.

-

Street info: This option displays an information block at

the bottom of the display showing the name of the street
your present position or cursor is on. If in the cursor
mode, the bearing and distance from your present posi­tion are displayed.

Map Setup

You can make the following settings using the Map Setup op­tion. To access this option, press MENU when the Map
screen is displayed, select
The screen that appears contains two tabs: the

play

tabs.

On the

Format tab, you can set the following parameters:

-

Orientation: You can change how the map is orientated on

Setup and then select Map Setup.

Format and Dis-

the screen to either North Up, Course Up or Track Up.
Default is North Up.

-

Detail: Use this field to set the map detail. The detail of

the map can be set to highest, high, medium, low or low­est. This changes the zoom level that different map
objects (cities, highways, labels, etc.) are displayed. If
you have set a zoom level and the display is too clut­tered, set the map detail to a lower level; conversely set it
to a higher level to view more detail.

28

Track Mode,
Fixed Rate

Track Mode,
Auto

Track Mode,
Auto Detailed

Map Setup screen,

Display tab

- Track Mode: Allows you to set how often MobileMapper
stores track points. Setting the mode to
from saving any new track points. With

Detailed

enabled, MobileMapper uses a method for track

point storage that maximizes memory. Using

Off stops the unit

Auto or Auto

Auto, you

will see more points on and near turns and less points on
straight stretches of the map. You also have the option of
selecting fixed intervals for track point storage.

-

Primary Usage: MobileMapper can be set to either Land or
Marine usage. When in Land (default), the map displays

land areas in white and water areas in blue. For marine
applications it may be desirable to reverse the display,
showing water as white and land as blue. This will make
reading some of the data information on the water easier.

From the

Display tab, you can customize the Map screen by

specifying the items that MobileMapper should display on
the map:

-Waypoints (default: checked)

-

Track Lines (a dashed line; Default: Checked)

-

Pos-Dest Line (line connecting current position to destina-

tion)

-

Depart-Dest Line (line connecting initial position to desti-

nation)

29

Check the items you want to show and clear those you want
to hide. You can also check or clear all these items in a single
operation by respectively selecting

Mark All or Clear All just

above these items and then pressing ENTER

Goto Cursor

If the Map screen is in cursor mode, the first option available
from the list displayed after pressing the MENU button is

Goto Cursor. Select this function when you want MobileMap-

per to guide you to the location where the cursor currently is
on the Map screen. Starting from your current location, Mo­bileMapper will indicate the distance to go and the heading
to the cursor location.

30

Compass Screen

Compass Screen

The two data fields on top are customizable. The lower por­tion of the Compass screen not only displays your heading in
a graphical manner, but also displays the relationship of the
sun, moon and your destination (if navigating on a route) to
your heading.

The Compass screen contains the following information,
from top to bottom:

- In the title bar: destination name if you are using the
Goto function

- Data Fields: customizable data fields (see
option below). Some of the data displayed requires you
to be moving to be computed. Invalid data is indicated by
dashes.

- Icon representing destination: Displayed outside the
compass when you are using the Goto function. This pro­vides you with the direction you need to head to arrive at
the destination. When you are on course and heading
straight for the destination, the destination icon will be
lined up with the heading marker

- Compass/Heading marker: Using the compass and the
heading marker, you can view your heading information
in a familiar manner. Note that you need to be moving
for this data to be valid.

To customize the Compass screen, use the function de­scribed below. This context-sensitive function is prompted
when you press the MENU button while the Compass screen
is displayed.

Customize

Customize

See page 38.

31

Large Data Screen

Large Data Screen

The Large Data screen is similar to the Compass screen but
here the compass has been removed to allow for large dis­play of the navigation data. This screen is ideal for when you
have your unit mounted on the dashboard of a vehicle. Even
from a distance the customizable information can be read
with ease.

The Large Data screen contains the following information,
from top to bottom:

- In the title bar: destination name if you are using the
Goto function

- Data Fields: customizable data fields (see
option below). Some of the data displayed requires you
to be moving to be computed. Invalid data is indicated by
dashes.

To customize the Large Data screen, use the function de­scribed below. This context-sensitive function is prompted
when you press the MENU button while the Large Data
screen is displayed.

Customize

See page 38.

Customize

32

Position Screens 1 & 2

To switch from a screen

to the other, just press the

Left or Right arrow key

The same data as on

Position screen 1 is dis-

played on Position

screen 2 except that the

lower part of the screen,

containing the two data

fields and the trip odom-

eter field, is replaced
with the current posi-

tion’s coordinates

expressed in the chosen

secondary coordinate

system and map datum.

Position Screens

Position screens #1 and #2 display your present position us­ing the coordinate systems that you have selected. This
screen shows all of the basic position, time and satellite in­formation. Additionally, on Position screen #1, current nav­igation information is shown in the bottom half of the screen.

For the sake of comparison, Position screen #2 provides the
coordinates of your present position both in the selected pri­mary coordinate system and map datum, and in the selected
secondary coordinate system and map datum.

Position screen #1 contains the following information, from
top to bottom:

- Coordinates and elevation of your current position: Dis­plays your current position in the chosen coordinate sys­tem. Also displays the elevation of the current position.
If MobileMapper is not computing position fixes, the last
computed position is displayed.

- GPS Status: Provides information on the current status of
the GPS receiver portion of the MobileMapper (see table
below).

Message Description

Searching - 1st sat Searching for 1st satellite

Searching - 2nd sat 1st satellite found; searching for 2nd satellite

Searching - 3rd sat 2 satellites are being tracked; searching for a 3rd

Searching - 4th sat 3 satellites are being tracked; searching for a 4th

Collecting Data All satellites needed for position fix are being

tracked and position is being computed

Averaging MobileMapper is computing fixes; speed is near

0.0 and so position is being averaged

EPE xxx. Estimated Position Error. MobileMapper is comput-

ing fixes while moving

DGPS Computed fixes are being differentially corrected

33

- Data Fields: customizable data fields (see Customize
option below). Some of the data displayed requires you
to be moving to be computed. Invalid data is indicated by
dashes.

- Trip Odometer: The odometer performs like the odome­ter in your car. It can be reset through the MENU button.

To customize the Position screens, use the functions de­scribed below. The first of these context-sensitive functions
is prompted when you press the MENU button while a Posi­tion screen is displayed. Some of these functions also exist
in the Setup menu.

Coord System, Map Datum and Elev Mode

See page 51 and page 52

Reset Trip (from Position screen 1 only)

If you select this option and you press ENTER, a warning
message is displayed asking you to confirm your choice. To
reset the trip odometer, highlight the

Yes field and press EN-

TER.

Customize (from Position screen 1 only)

See page 38.

34

Road Screen

Road Screen

The Road screen presents your route as if you were travel­ling on a road. When you need to make a turn, the road will
graphically display the turn and the direction. Waypoint and
destination icons will be displayed relative to your position
as they come into view. Above the road is a compass that dis­plays your heading and above that are four customizable
data fields.

The Road screen contains the following information, from
top to bottom:

- In the title bar: destination name if you are using the
Goto function

- Data Fields: customizable data fields (see
option below). Some of the data displayed requires you
to be moving to be computed. Invalid data is indicated by
dashes.

- Compass: Displays your heading in a familiar compass
format.

- Road: This graphically displays the route (Goto) that is
active. As you move left or right of your intended track,
the road will move on the display indicating which way
you need to steer to get back on track. Ideally, the road
would be centered on the display. Also, you will see
upcoming turns in advance allowing you to make neces­sary preparations.

- Scale indicator: Use Zoom In/Out to change the scale.

To customize the Road screen, use the function described be­low. This context-sensitive function is prompted when you
press the MENU button while the Road screen is displayed.

Customize

Customize

See page 38.

35

Data Screen

Data Screen

When you need to see a lot of information in one place then
you will appreciate the Data screen. The Data screen pro­vides you with six data fields and an active compass that is
the same as the one used on the road screen. You have the op­tion of customizing this screen by selecting what data is dis­played in the upper six fields. The lower portion of the
screen is occupied by a compass providing your heading.

The Data screen contains the following information, from
top to bottom:

- In the title bar: destination name if you are using the
Goto function

- Data Fields: customizable data fields (see
option below). Some of the data displayed requires you
to be moving to be computed. Invalid data is indicated by
dashes.

- Compass: Displays your heading in a familiar compass
format.

To customize the Data screen, use the function described be­low. This context-sensitive function is prompted when you
press the MENU button while the Data screen is displayed.

Customize

See page 38.

Customize

36

Speedometer Screen

Speedometer Screen

The Speedometer screen displays your speed in a familiar
graphical format. There are four additional data fields at the
top of the display that can be customized to display the data
that you need. The bottom of the screen contains a trip
odometer that will record the distance travelled since the last
time the odometer was reset.

The Speedometer screen contains the following information,
from top to bottom:

- In the title bar: destination name if you are using the
Goto function

- Data Fields: customizable data fields (see
option below). Some of the data displayed requires you
to be moving to be computed. Invalid data is indicated by
dashes.

- Speedometer: Displays your speed using a familiar
speedometer display. The scale of the speedometer is not
adjustable but will change dynamically to best display
your speed.

- Trip Odometer: The odometer performs like the odome­ter in your car. It can be reset through the MENU button.

To customize the Speedometer screen or reset the trip odom­eter, use the functions described below. The first of these
context-sensitive functions is prompted when you press the
MENU button while the Speedometer screen is displayed.

Customize

Reset Trip

If you select this option and you press ENTER, a warning
message is displayed asking you to confirm your choice. To
reset the trip odometer, highlight the

Yes field and press EN-

TER.

Customize

See page 38.

37

Satellite Status Screen

Available data:

BEARING

DISTANCE

SPEED

HEADING

VMG (Velocity made

good)

CTS (Course to steer)

ETA (Estimated time of

arrival)

ETE (Estimated time

enroute

XTE (Crosstrack error)

TURN

Elevation

TIME

DATE

EPE (Estimated Posi-

tional Error)

AVG. SPEED (Average

speed)

MAX. SPEED

Satellite Status Screen

Although the Satellite Status screen is part of the navigation
screen sequence, it is not actually a navigation screen. For
more details on this screen, refer to page 8.

When MobileMapper is computing your position, an addi­tional information appears in the right-upper corner with two
possible values: 3D or 2D. 3D means the computed position
is 3-dimensional (elevation computed). In 2D (2-dimension­al), elevation is not computed. Mobile Mapper assumes that
the last computed or entered elevation is the elevation for all
computed positions.

Customizing Data Fields on Navigation Screens

Except for the Satellite Status screen, all navigation screens
can be customized through the following procedure:

• Press NAV repeatedly until the desired navigation screen
is displayed

•Press MENU

• Highlight
screen, first highlight
Then highlight

• On the Navigation screen now shown in edit mode, high­light the data field to be changed using the left/right
arrow and press ENTER

• Choose the data in the list that you wish now to display
in this field. Press ENTER. Data change in the field is
immediate.

• Resume this procedure for all the fields that need to be
changed on this screen and on the other navigation
screens.

Customize and press ENTER. For the Map

Select Map Info and press ENTER.

Customize Fields and press ENTER.

38

Selecting a GIS feature

on the Map screen

GOTO Function

Purpose

You will use the Goto function to ask MobileMapper to
guide you from your current position to a destination point.

After you will have specified which destination point to go
to, you will select your favorite navigation screen. You will
then be able to read the information computed by Mo­bileMapper to help you reach the destination.

Destination Point Types

Not only can MobileMapper guide you to previously logged
GIS features but also to other pre-loaded or created points.
In fact, the destination point can be any of the following:

- Any feature logged in the open GIS job which you will
select graphically on the Map screen

- Any waypoint created earlier using the MARK function.
This type of point is stored as a “User” Point of Interest
(POI)

- Any point of interest (POI) pre-loaded in MobileMapper.

Selecting a GIS Feature as the Destination Point

Press NAV until the Map screen is displayed. Press the arrow
button in any direction to make the selection cursor appear
and to position it over the feature you want to go to. You
know that the cursor is positioned over the feature when the
“Cursor” indication at the bottom of the screen is replaced
with the name of that feature.

Press ENTER. A new screen appears giving the current de­scription of the feature. At the bottom of the screen, the
field is highlighted: simply press ENTER again to enable the
Goto function with this feature as your destination. Then se­lect your favorite navigation screen, using the NAV button,
and navigate to this feature.

Goto

39

NOTE: If you have

already pressed the

arrow keys and one of the

nearest points in the list

is highlighted, use the

ESC button to scroll back

to the Nearest To field

Selecting a POI as the Destination Point

Press MENU, scroll to the GOTO option and press ENTER.
The possible categories of POIs are now listed on the screen.
Select the category the destination point belongs to.

Before pressing ENTER to list all the points stored in this
category, choose how you want these points to be listed by
setting the
field. Two values are possible in this field:

-

Alphabetical: Points will be listed in alphabetical order.

MobileMapper will then help you find the desired point
through one of the following two methods: Keyboard

Search and Alphabetic Scroll.

Keyboard Search: Before displaying the list of points in

alphabetical order, MobileMapper displays a keyboard
that you can use to enter the first few characters of the
point you are looking for. When you highlight
press ENTER, (or as a shortcut, press IN), you are taken
to the alphabetical list with the point you began typing at
the top of the display. Anytime you are viewing the list
of points, you can re-access the keyboard by pressing
ESC.

Alphabetic Scroll: You can use the IN and OUT buttons
to step up or down the alphabet. If you were viewing
points beginning with the letter “A”, pressing OUT
would take you to the first waypoint beginning with “B”,
and then “C” and so forth. Pressing IN does the same
function but only in reverse.

-

Nearest To: Only the 20 points from this category the clos-

est to your position will be listed.

When these 20 points are listed, MobileMapper indicates
the bearing and distance to your current position from the
first point in the list. You can change the point from
which the nearest points are found. With the
field now highlighted, press ENTER and scroll to the
category where this new point can be found. Select a new
point and press ENTER.

Find By field. Press the left/right arrow to set this

OK and

Nearest To

40

Mark screen

The Mark option from

the Menu list provides a

function similar to the

LOG button when held

down for 2 to 3 seconds

Saving Your Current Position as a Waypoint

Saving your current position as a waypoint is very easy and
can be done regardless of whether a GIS job is open or not.

From any navigation screen, just hold down the LOG button
for 2 to 3 seconds until the Mark screen is displayed. This
screen provides the description of the waypoint you are
about to save.

You can accept all the defaults by simply pressing ENTER
(

Save field already highlighted).

You can also edit the

Icon, Name and Message fields using the

arrow keys to access these fields. Obviously you should keep
the

Location and Elevation fields unchanged as they contain

the coordinates of your current location.

Creating a Waypoint With the Map Cursor

This is another way of creating a waypoint whose coordi­nates will be based on the location of the cursor on the Map
screen.

Press NAV until the Map screen is displayed. Press any ar­row key to make the cursor visible on the map. Move the cur­sor to the desired location on the map using any arrow keys.
Hold down the LOG button for 2 to 3 seconds until the Mark
screen is displayed.

You can accept all the defaults by simply pressing ENTER
(

Save field already highlighted).

You can also edit the
arrow keys to access these fields. Obviously you should keep
the

Location and Elevation fields unchanged as they contain

the coordinates of the cursor location.

Icon, Name and Message fields using the

41

Select Item screen

User Waypoint screen

Editing/Deleting a User Waypoint

You can edit/delete a waypoint from the Map screen:

- Press NAV until the Map screen is displayed

- Use the IN or OUT button, or move the cursor so that the
waypoint you want to edit or delete is visible on the
screen

- Position the cursor over that waypoint. The name of the
waypoint then appears at the bottom of the screen.

- Press ENTER. This opens the Select Item screen on
which MobileMapper lists the names of waypoints and
POIs present in the vicinity. Highlight the waypoint you
want to edit/delete.

- Press ENTER again. This opens the User Waypoint
screen on which you can see the definition of the way­point (coordinates+comments). At the bottom of the
screen are three command fields that you can use for the
following tasks:

Edit (default choice): Select this field if you want to edit

the definition of the waypoint. The following parameters
can be changed: icon, name, coordinates, elevation and
comment.

Goto: Select this field if you want MobileMapper to guide

you to this waypoint

Del: Select this field if you want to delete the waypoint.

MobileMapper will then ask you to confirm that you
really want to delete the selected waypoint.

42

A GOTO route is a one-

leg route whose two ends

are your current position

and the chosen destina-

tion point.

WPT6

WPT5

Routes

As explained below, MobileMapper can handle two types of
routes: GOTO route and multi-leg route.

GOTO Route

This in fact a route that you define when:

- You select a feature on the Map screen, you press
ENTER to display the attributes of this feature, and you
press ENTER again to enable the Goto function to this
feature (by default, the
screen is highlighted). The same can be done to choose a
POI or a waypoint as the destination point.

- You use the

GOTO option from the Menu screen and you

choose a POI or waypoint as the destination point.

GOTO routes are not saved in memory. When you turn your
MobileMapper off and then back on, the GOTO route is
gone. You need to create a new GOTO route if you intend on
completing the route.

Multi-leg Route

A multi-leg route consists of several waypoints or POIs that
you should reach one after the other. The segment between
any two consecutive waypoints or POIs is called a “leg.” Un­like GOTO routes, multi-leg routes can be stored in memory.

Goto field at the bottom of the

WPT3

WPT2

WPT4

WPT1

1. Creating a Multi-leg Route

Press NAV to display a navigation screen, press MENU,
scroll down to

Routes and press ENTER.

The Route List screen is now displayed. Scroll down the list
and highlight the first

Empty route in the list. Press ENTER.

43

Create Route screen

The Create Route screen is now displayed. Note that the first
line on this screen is highlighted.

Press ENTER. The Add WPT screen is now displayed. Se­lect the category of points containing the first waypoint of
the route and press ENTER. Choose a point from the list and
press ENTER. The first waypoint in the route is now defined
and you are now prompted to define the second one. Resume
the instructions in this paragraph for the second point, then
for the third, etc.

When the last point of the route is defined, highlight the

Route

field on the Create Route screen and then press EN-

Save

TER to save the route.

2. Creating a Multi-leg Route from the Track History

Press NAV to display a navigation screen, press MENU,
scroll down to

Routes and press ENTER.

Regardless of which route is highlighted in the route list,
press MENU again and highlight the

Save Trk to Rte option.

Press ENTER. MobileMapper then takes you back to the
Route List screen on which you can see that the track history
has been saved as the last route in the list. This route uses a
naming convention of “T01P01 to T01Pxx” where Pxx indi­cates the number of points in the route.

Route List screen

44

3. Activating/deactivating a Multi-Leg Route

Press NAV to display a navigation screen, press MENU,
scroll down to

Routes and press ENTER.

In the Route List screen now displayed, scroll down the list
and highlight the route you want to activate. Press MENU,
highlight the

Activate Route option and press ENTER. Mo-

bileMapper comes back to the Route List screen where the
activated route now appears in bold characters. Press NAV to
navigate along this route.

To deactivate this route, press MENU, highlight

Routes,

press ENTER, highlight the activated route (shown in bold
characters), press MENU, highlight

Deactivate Route and

press ENTER. The route is now deactivated.

4. Other Functions Tied to Routes

You can also do the following on the highlighted route using
the functions available from the MENU button (see also di­agram on page 49):

- Viewing the route on the Map screen by highlighting the

Map View Route option and pressing ENTER. The Map

screen then appears showing the route. Press ESC to
come back to the Route List screen.

- Editing the route by highlighting the

View/Edit Route

option and pressing ENTER. From the View/Edit screen
you can then press the MENU button to access options
allowing you to insert, delete, replace the highlighted
waypoint and then to save the changes made to the route.

- Reversing the route, i.e. reversing the direction of travel
along the route, by highlighting the

Reverse Route option

and pressing ENTER. This instantly reverses the route.
Note that the first and last waypoints in the route name
have been swapped.

- Deleting the route by highlighting the

Delete Route option

and pressing ENTER. A message will appear asking you
to confirm this operation.

- If a route has been activated, selecting the leg you want
to follow by selecting the

Select Leg option and pressing

ENTER. The screen then shows the list of points making
up the route. Select the point you want to navigate to and
press ENTER. A warning message will appear asking
you to confirm the leg change. After choosing

Yes or No,

press ESC twice to return to the navigation screen.

45

In the previous chapters,
we have introduced most

of the context-sensitive

functions available from

the menu list. In fact,

these functions are

closely tied to

MobileMapper’s main

functionality (GIS data

logging and navigation).

In this chapter, we

present the supplemental

functions.

From Map
screen, Position
mode

From Map
screen, Cursor
mode

Open Job
New Job
(Close Job)

Show (Hide) Map Info
(Select Map Info)

Show (Hide) Map Info

MENU button

The list of functions that you can have access to by pressing
the MENU button depends on which navigation screen is
displayed and whether GIS data logging is in progress or not.
The context-sensitive functions are always listed first in the
menu list (after the ever present

Job

options). The other functions, which are always avail­able as long as the MENU key is active, are always last in the
list. On the menu screen, a horizontal line separates context­sensitive functions from the other ones.

The diagram below shows the available functions when
pressing MENU while navigation screens are displayed and
no GIS data logging is in progress. These functions are listed
in the same order as on the screen. Context-sensitive func­tions appear in the upper frames. Lines connect the context­sensitive functions to the permanent functions so you can see
what the entire menu is made of in each context.

From Position screens

Open Job
New Job
(Close Job)

Coord System
Map Datum
Elev Mode
Projection
(Reset Trip)
(Customize)

Goto Cursor
Open Job
New Job
(Close Job)

From Compass,
Large Data,
Road, Data
screens

Open Job
New Job
(Close Job)

Customize

Open Job / New Job or Close

From Speed­ometer screen

Open Job
New Job
(Close Job)

Reset Trip
Customize

From Satellite
Status screen

Open Job
New Job
(Close Job)

46

Mark
GOTO
Routes

Setup

Delete Files
About...

Initialize
Select Map
Map Setup
Nav Screens
Coord System
Map Datum
Elev Mode
Time Format
Units
Alarms
North Reference
Daylight Saving
Power Off Timer
Contrast
Light Timer
Beeper
Clear Memory
NMEA
Baud Rate
Power key
Simulate
Language

From feature list
screen

(Repeat Feature)
Close Job

The second diagram shows the available functions when
pressing MENU when a GIS job is open and one of the GIS
logging-specific screens is displayed.

Line or area feature being logged

Grid feature
being logged

Repeat Feature
Offset
Close <feature name>
Nest Feature

Point feature being logged

Repeat Feature
Offset
Close <feature name>
Delete <feature name>

Pause/Resume <feature name>
Repeat Feature
Offset
Close <feature name>
Nest Feature
Logging Interval
Delete <feature name>

Mark
GOTO
Routes

Setup

Delete Files
About...

Initialize
Select Map
Map Setup
Nav Screens
Coord System
Map Datum
Elev Mode
Time Format
Units
Alarms
North Reference
Daylight Saving
Power Off Timer
Contrast
Light Timer
Beeper
Clear Memory
NMEA
Baud Rate
Power key
Simulate
Language

When data logging is in progress and one of the navigation
screens is displayed, then the functions specific to the select­ed navigation screen and to GIS data logging add up in the
menu (functions specific to data logging are listed first).

(See also

Routes option, page 49, for which the MENU but-

ton gives access to specific functions.)

When you select the

Setup option in the menu list, another

menu is displayed containing a number of options, as shown
in the above two diagrams.

All the options available from the Menu screen are described
below.

47

Open Job

This option provides another way of opening a GIS job. It is
similar to selecting the

Open Existing Job option that is

prompted on the screen after pressing the LOG button when
no job is open yet. Selecting this option when a job is already
open allows you to close the currently open job and open an­other one.

New Job

This option provides another way of creating a new GIS job.
It is similar to selecting the

Create New Job option that is

prompted on the screen after pressing the LOG button when
no job is open yet.

Mark

This option allows you to quickly create a new waypoint
whose coordinates will be those of your current location.

A typical use of this option is when you are located at a new
point of interest and you wish to log its position.

When you select
plays the Mark screen with the following default values:

- Default icon in the

- “WPTxxx” as waypoint name in the

a number that MobileMapper automatically increments
as you create new waypoints

- Coordinates of your current location in the

Elevation fields

If you agree with all these parameters, and as the
is already selected at the bottom of the screen, you just have
to press ENTER to create the new waypoint. This is the fast­est procedure to create a new waypoint.

On the other hand, if you have to change any of these param­eters or add a comment in the
first to edit the corresponding fields before selecting the
field and pressing ENTER

Mark in the menu list, MobileMapper dis-

Icon field

Name field. “xxx” is

Location and

Save field

Message field, then you have

Save

48

GOTO

This option is discussed in detail on page 39.

Routes

This option is discussed in detail on page 43. The MENU
button gives access to a list of specific options when the

Routes option is enabled. This is summarized in the diagram

below.

From View/Edit
Route screen

Open Job
New Job
(Close Job)

Insert WPT
Delete WPT
Replace WPT
Save Route

From Route list
screen, route
highlighted, not
activated

Open Job
New Job
(Close Job)

Activate Route
View/Edit Route
Reverse Route
Delete Route
Save Trk to Rte
Map View Route

Setup
About...

From Route List
screen, route high­lighted and activated

Open Job
New Job
(Close Job)

Deactivate Route
Select Leg
View/Edit Route
Reverse Route
Delete Route
Save Trk to Rte
Map View Route

From Route List
screen, empty
route highlighted

Open Job
New Job
(Close Job)

Create New Rte
Save Trk to Rte

Setup Menu

This menu contains most of the ancillary functions intro­duced at the beginning of this chapter. Each of these func­tions is described below.

1. Initialize

This option guides you through the complete procedure
that allows you, any time, to initialize MobileMapper.

49

Change Map screen

2. Select Map

This option is mainly used to choose the base map used
as background map on the Map screen. The following
parameters can be set on the Change Map screen:

-

Basemap: If no SD card containing a specific map is

installed in MobileMapper, then only the

Default Map

option can be selected in this field. The default map is
always present in MobileMapper. If an SD card con­taining specific maps is installed in the receiver, then
you can choose one of them as the one shown on the
Map screen.

-

Detail Map: If no SD card containing a specific map is

installed in MobileMapper, then only the

Empty

option can be selected in this field as the default map
only has one level of details. If an SD card containing
specific maps is installed in the receiver and you
chose one of them in the previous field, then you can
choose the level of details you wish to see on the Map
screen.

After choosing the desired options for these parameters,
highlight the

Save field at the bottom of the screen using

the down arrow and then press ENTER.

3. Map Setup

This option allows you to set the viewing options for the
Map screen (see page 28).

50

4. Nav Screens

This option allows you to remove the navigation screens
that you do not need from the navigation screen sequence
that you scroll by pressing NAV repeatedly (see
page 26).

When selecting this option, you are asked to turn off or
on each of the available navigation screens. Choose
“Off” and press ENTER for all these screens that you are
not currently using. Note that the Map screen cannot be
turned off. You must cycle through all the screens in
order to save any changes to the On/Off status of any
screen.

Default coordinate

systems:

Primary: Lat/Lon

Secondary: UTM

5. Coord System

This option allows you to define a primary coordinate
system, and also a secondary coordinate system if you
need one.

By defining a coordinate system, you tell MobileMapper
how the calculated coordinates should be expressed. For
example, if you choose

Lat/Lon, all coordinates will be

expressed as angles (latitudes and longitudes) and if you
choose

UTM or any other system, coordinates will all be

distances (Northings and Eastings) from the chosen ori­gin.

When you select the

Coord System option from the Setup

menu, MobileMapper asks you to specify which system
you want to define (primary or secondary). Select it and
press ENTER. In the list that appears, select the coordi­nate system you want to use and press ENTER. Depend­ing on your choice, MobileMapper may then ask you
additional information:

- Lat/lon display format

- Distance units if you chose another system (other
than UTM). If for example a calculated coordinate is
249173N and you choose 1 meter as distance unit,
then the coordinate will appear as 249173N on the
Position screen, or 24917N if you choose 10 meters,
or 2491N if you choose 100 meters, etc.

- For some systems, information on grid zones or types

- For the User Grid, projection type (Transverse Mer­cator, Lambert Conic, Stereographic, Oblique Merca­tor or Polyconic), coordinates of origin, scale factor,
unit to meters conversion and false Easting and
Northing at origin

51

Default Map datums

Primary: WGS84

Secondary: WGS84

Default Elev mode: 3D

6. Map Datum

This option allows you to define a primary map datum,
and also a secondary map datum if you need one.

A map datum is a geographic reference that MobileMap­per will refer to to calculate the coordinates of your posi­tion. MobileMapper holds more than 70 different map
datums in its memory.

After selecting the

Map Datum option from the Setup

menu, choose the map datum from the list that applies to
your country and working area and then press ENTER.

7. Elev Mode

This option allows you to choose between 3D and 2D
mode.

In 3D mode, MobileMapper will compute the 3 coordi­nates of your position: horizontal coordinates plus eleva­tion.

In 2D mode, MobileMapper will not calculate your ele­vation. Only the horizontal coordinates of your position
will be computed. MobileMapper will assume that the
last computed or entered elevation is your current eleva­tion.

Operating in 3D requires at least 4 tracked satellites
whereas 2D requires only 3.

Consider using the 2D mode when the conditions of
reception are poor or if the working area is relatively flat
and elevation is not important.

After selecting the

Elev Mode option from the Setup menu,

choose the mode that matches your case of use and then
press ENTER.

52

Default time format:

Local AM/PM

Default units: km/m/kph/

hectares

8. Time Format

This option allows you to select the time format you
want to use in MobileMapper. You can choose from three
different time formats: Local 24Hrs, Local AM/PM or
UTC.

After selecting the

Time Format option from the Setup

menu, choose the time format that suits you and then
press ENTER.

If you have selected

Local 24 Hrs or Local AM/PM, you will

be prompted to enter your local time.

9. Units

This option allows you to select the units of measure­ment that will be used when displaying navigational data
or features being logged.

All sets of units are formatted as follows:

unit/short distance unit/speed unit/area unit

long distance

.You can select

from 5 different sets of units.

You can also create your own set of units by selecting

Advanced at the end of the list. You are then prompted to

specify the unit you wish to use for each type of possible
measure, i.e. Distance, Speed, Elevation, Bearing and
Area.

After selecting the

Units option from the Setup menu,

choose a set of units from the displayed list and then
press ENTER. If you have selected

Advanced, a new list

appears prompting you to choose a unit for each type of
measure. Select the first measure in the list, press
ENTER, choose a unit and press ENTER again. This
takes you back to the former screen where you can select
the second measure, etc. When all units are defined,
press ESC to come back to the Setup menu.

53

Alarms menu

10.Alarms

All of the Alarm options are set in the same way. The
instructions below apply to all of the Alarm settings.
When the beeper is turned on for alarms (see

Beeper

option) an audible beep will be sounded for the alarm. A
visual alert is displayed for the alarm whether the beeper
is turned on or off.

Setting the Arrival Alarm: The arrival alarm alerts you
that you have arrived at the destination of your GOTO
route or to the destination of any leg in a route you are
navigating on. This option allows you to set the distance,
in the measurement units you selected, from the destina­tion at which the alarm will begin to sound.

Setting the PDOP Alarm: This turns on or off the alarm
that can sound whenever MobileMapper has lost its abil­ity to compute accurate position fixes due to poor geom­etry of the GPS constellation. Generally, PDOP values
less than or equal to “5” are indicative of good operating
conditions. So it is a good idea to set this alarm to “5.” To
turn off the PDOP alarm, enter “00.”

NOTE:

Apart from the Arrival and PDOP alarms, MobileMapper
will generate a warning message on the screen in each of
the following two cases:

- “Low Memory.” This message will appear when the
handheld is running out of memory. If a job is being
logged, then the occurrence of this message will auto­matically stop GIS data logging. You will however be
allowed to enter the attribute values of the current
feature before the job is closed.

- “Out of Memory.” This message will appear when
the memory is full. The occurrence of this message
will immediately close the currently open job and
you will not be able to log any new feature until you
free some space in memory.

54

Default North

Reference: True

Default: The appropri-

ate daylight saving time

(United States and Euro-

pean Union only) will
automatically be set dur­ing startup when you use

mobileMapper for the

first time.

11.North Reference

This option allows you to define the type of North refer­ence you want MobileMapper to use. This can be True
North, Magnetic North, Military True North or Military
Magnetic North.

After selecting the

North Reference option from the Setup

menu, choose the desired North Reference from the dis­played list and then press ENTER.

12.Daylight Saving

This option allows you to select the region where you are
located so that MobileMapper can automatically adjust
the time displayed to compensate for daylight saving
time. You can select one of three possible regions:

-

United States: Daylight saving starts on the first Sun-

day in April and ends on the last Sunday in October

-

European Union: Daylight saving starts on the last Sun-

day in March and ends on the last Sunday in October

-

Customize: this option allows you to set the month and

day that daylight saving starts and ends in your area.

After selecting the

Daylight saving option from the Setup

menu, press ENTER again to list the three available
regions. Choose one using the up/down arrow and then
press ENTER. Press ESC to come back to the Setup
Menu screen. If you chose

Customize, first set all the dis-

played fields according to your local daylight saving
times before pressing ESC.

55

Default: Off

It’s a good idea to use

this option when you

transport your

MobileMapper unpro-

tected in a bag. This will

prevent the batteries from

being entirely dis-

charged after the PWR

button has been inadvert-

ently depressed.

13.Power Off Timer

Conserving battery life is important to any handheld GPS
user. The Power Off Timer option provides another tool
in saving battery life.

Selecting

On will allow you to select the mode and how

long MobileMapper will stay powered on.

- If the

Power off mode you select is Time, then the Power off

Timer

field allows you to select time that MobileMapper
will remain on before automatically powering off is no
keys are pressed (1 2, 4, 10, 30 or 60 minutes).

If the

Power off mode you select is Position, the Power Off

Timer

field sets how soon MobileMapper will be powered
down when the position has not changed and if no keys
have been pressed.

14.Contrast

This option allows you to set the screen contrast. After
selecting this option, a new screen appears on which you
can set the percentage of contrast using the left/right
arrows to respectively decrease or increase that percent­age. The impact of your contrast setting upon different
color bars is instantly shown in the lower part of the
screen.

Default: 4 minutes

56

15.Light Timer

This option allows you to set the time interval that will
be used to turn off the display backlight when not in use.
Times available are: 30 seconds, 1, 2, 4 or 10 minutes, or
Timer Off.

After selecting the

Light Timer option from the Setup

menu, use the up/down arrow to highlight the desired
choice and then press ENTER.

16.Beeper

This option allows you to select which actions will cause
the beeper to sound. You can select one of the following
choices:

-

Off (beeper will never sound)

-

Keys Only (pressing a key causes a beep)

Alarms Only (when an alarm is activated)

-

-

Keys & Alarms (beeper will sound when a key is

pressed or an alarm is activated)

After selecting the

Beeper option from the Setup menu,

use the up/down arrow to highlight the desired choice
and then press ENTER.

17.Clear Memory

This option allows you to clear one of the following data
sets from MobileMapper’s memory:

-

Track history: Will clear the track history displayed on

the Map screen from memory

-

Wpts/Routes: Will clear all waypoints and routes from

memory

-

Routes: Will clear all routes from memory

Reset default: Will reset the receiver by restoring all

­factory defaults

-

All: Will clear all memory

After selecting the

Clear Memory option from the Setup

menu, use the up/down arrow to highlight the desired
choice and then press ENTER. MobileMapper will ask
you to confirm your choice. If you have selected

All,

MobileMapper will then shut off. The next time it is
turned on, it will prompt you that it needs to be initial­ized.

57

18.NMEA

This option allows you to select the NMEA message that
will be output from MobileMapper. Your choice will
depend on which message is needed by the device con­nected to MobileMapper:

-

V1.5 APA: Autopilot Sentence “A”

-

V1.5 XTE: Crosstrack error according to NMEA0183

V1.5

-

V2.1 GSA: Standard GPS position message according

to NMEA0183 standard in version 2.1

After selecting the

NMEA option from the Setup menu,

use the up/down arrow to highlight the desired choice
and then press ENTER.

19.Baud Rate

This option enables you to set the baud rate of the data
being sent out from the MobileMapper’s output port. The
possible choices are: 1200, 4800, 9600, 19200, 57600 or
115200 baud.

After selecting the

Baud Rate option from the Setup menu,

use the up/down arrow to highlight the desired choice
and then press ENTER.

58

Default: No protection

20.Power Key

This option allows you to change how the PWR button
operates in turning MobileMapper on or off. Two choices
are possible:

-

No protection: this is the normal case of use. With this

option enabled, you will have to press the PWR but­ton to turn MobileMapper on. You will press the
PWR button again to turn MobileMapper off.

-

On/Off protected: To turn MobileMapper on with this

option enabled, you will have to press and hold the
PWR button until the first screen is displayed. To turn
it off, you will have to press the PWR button, and
then press the ENTER button before the power off
timer is done.

After selecting the

Power Key option from the Setup

menu, use the up/down arrow to highlight the desired
choice and then press ENTER.

21.Simulate

This option allows you to set the simulator. It shows you how
MobileMapper uses its various functions based on a simulat­ed journey. The simulator is useful for learning or demon­strating MobileMapper functions when indoors and there is
no GPS reception. When the simulator is on, MobileMapper
quits normal operation to operate in the simulator mode. You
can choose one of the following three options when you ac­cess the

Simulate option:

-

Off: Will turn the simulator off. MobileMapper will

return to normal operation

-

Auto: Will turn the simulator on. A predefined head-

ing and speed rate will be used.

-

User: Will turn the simulator on. A user-defined head-

ing and speed rate will be used.

59

After selecting the Simulate option from the Setup menu,
use the up/down arrow to highlight the desired choice
and then press ENTER.

If you have selected
you to enter heading and speed data. A message will then
appear warning you that enabling the simulator will nec­essarily clear track history. Make the appropriate choice.

If you have selected
play the warning message about track history.

22.Language

This option allows you to select the language that
MobileMapper will use to display text.

TIP: If you change the language setting in MobileMap­per just to see what it looks like and need to get back to
the Language Select screen, follow these instructions.
Press NAV until the Satellite Status screen is displayed
and press MENU. Select the sixth item in the list and
press ENTER. Press the up arrow once and press
ENTER. You are back at the Language Select screen.

User, MobileMapper will then ask

Auto, MobileMapper will also dis-

60

Delete Files

This option allows you to list the job files stored in memory.
Use the up/down arrow to scroll through the list.

A symbol is placed before each filename. The meaning of
this symbol is as follows:

> Indicates that this file is the current file into which data
is being recorded

+ Indicates that the file has not yet been downloaded
from the handheld

- Indicates that the file has been downloaded from the
handheld.

Pressing ENTER will display the File Info dialog box show­ing the name, size and creation date for the job file you have
highlighted in the list.

You can delete this file by pressing ENTER again (
field already highlighted) or you can come back to the job
file list by pressing ESC.

Delete

About...

The About... screen displays the current status of your Mo­bileMapper. Using the About... screen you can tell what the
version of the software is, the version and memory size of
the base map, the number of and total memory size of de­tailed maps you may have installed, and how much free
memory is available.

61

62

Conventions used

for directions

of data transfer

Upload

Download

2. MobileMapper Office Software

Introduction

The functions supported by MobileMapper Office are listed
below:

- Creating Job files. A job should always contain a feature
library. The name of the coordinate system selected in
the program is also automatically attached to the job. The
following information will also be saved to the job if the
relevant data is displayed in MobileMapper Office:
names of waypoint/route files and name of background
map.

- Uploading job files to the MobileMapper handheld so
that field operators can revisit previously completed jobs.
When you do that, not only do you upload GPS positions
and descriptions of the previously visited features but
also the name of the coordinate system used in the job,
the complete feature library associated with this job, and
possibly the names of the background map and way­point/route file attached to this job.

- Downloading completed job files from the MobileMap­per handheld. Again, when you do that, the name of the
coordinate system used in the job, the complete feature
library associated with this job, and optionally the names
of the background map and waypoint/route file attached
to this job are downloaded in addition to the GPS posi­tions and descriptions of the visited features.

- Exporting jobs in GIS formats (SHP, MIF, DXF). Note
that exporting to DXF requires that a grid system, not a
lat/lon system, be used in the job.

- Creating standalone feature libraries using the Feature
Library Editor. GIS layers can be imported from your
GIS system when you create a feature library.

- Creating lists of waypoints and routes using the Way-

point/Route Editor.

63

- Creating background maps using the Background Map
and Create Map utilities. When you create a background
map, you can import SHP, DXF or MIF files to add use­ful details to your map. Remember however that back­ground maps are for viewing only. You cannot edit them
or access information on their features. They provide a
backdrop, which gives visual orientation for your data
and waypoint files. If you want to edit the positions or
descriptions of a SHP, MIF or DXF file, you should
import them into a MobileMapper job file.

- Uploading individually any standalone feature library
file or background map to the MobileMapper handheld.

- Downloading individually any standalone feature library
file, background map file or waypoint/route file.

- Defining the coordinate system used by MobileMapper
Office to display the coordinates of features and way­points.

Installing MobileMapper Office

- Close all the applications running in Windows

- Insert the installation CD-ROM in the drive

- If the Autorun program does not start automatically from
the CD-ROM, in the Windows task bar, click on Start
and select Run...

- Type x:\setup (where x is the name of the CD-ROM
drive) and then press Enter. After you specify where to
install MobileMapper Office programs, and you agree to
the terms of the software license, your computer will
complete the installation process.

64

Launching MobileMapper Office

On the Window Task bar, select successively Start, Programs
and

MobileMapper Office. This starts the program causing the

main window to open on the PC screen. You may alterna­tively start just the Feature Library Editor or the Mo­bileMapper Transfer utility in order to use these standalone
applications.

MobileMapper Office Main Window

Map Display area

The main window of MobileMapper Office is organized as
explained below (see also above figure):

- The Map Display area runs from the bottom of the Menu
bar to the bottom border. It takes up about two-thirds of
the screen, right to left.

- At the bottom of the window, in the status bar, a box is
used for displaying the geographic location of the cursor
in the selected coordinate system

- The right third of the window is used to display the Layer
List. When opened, the window relevant to the Way­points or Routes List is placed over the Layer List.

- The Create Map editor and the Feature Library Editor are
each displayed in a secondary window that appears at the
center of the screen.

Layer List

65

The grid will reflect the

choice of the coordinate

system used. However,

all features will be

PLACED on the map

only based on their

WGS84 coordinates.

Map Display Area

Controlling the Content of the Map Display Area

The data displayed in the Map Display area is controlled by
the Layers List shown on the right-hand area of the main
window.

When you want one of the listed layers displayed in the Map
Display area, just fill in the check box located before this
layer name. As a result, all the items pertaining to this layer
will be shown in the Map Display area. Conversely, if you
clear the check box, none of the items pertaining to this layer
will be visible in this area.

By default, the following two layers are always displayed:

- Waypoints

- Background map

If a job is open, each feature from the feature library used in
the job also appears as a layer which can be displayed/hidden
on the Map Display area. In addition, for these layers, you
can change their look on the Map Display area by double­clicking on their names. Different icons are available for
point features and different colors are available for line, area
and grid features.

If you import a MIF or SHP file from your GIS system, then
new layers will also be added to the Layer list.

A number of viewing options are also available from the bot­tom of the
play area. You can for example show/hide the grid values,
the scale interval, the feature and waypoint labels, etc.

Options menu to let you customize the Map Dis-

66

Below is the list of buttons from the Map toolbar that you
can use to work on the content the Map Display area:

: Allow you to respectively zoom in, zoom out

and fit the scale to the map content

: Allows you to adjust the scale to preset values

: Allows you to drag the map in any direction.

: Allows you to select the map of a continent for
display in the Map Display area as a backdrop to the job
data (and also to the background map itself, if displayed).

: Gives access to the Background Maps dialog from
which you can attach/detach a background map for the
currently open job

: (Gives access to the Feature Library Editor window;
not a map-related button)

: Allows you to measure distances on the map. See

next chapter.

: Allows you to define a map region

: Allows you to place new waypoints on the Map
Display area

: Allows you to draw routes connecting waypoints
shown on the map

67

Making Measurements on the Map Display Area

You can measure the distance and heading between any
points displayed in the Map Display area:

- On the toolbar, click , then click on the point on the
map from which to start the measurement. The start point
is then marked with a small square symbol.

- Then, as you move the mouse cursor away from the start
point, MobileMapper Office will calculate the length and
heading from the current location of the cursor to this
point

- If you click on a second point, a straight line will appear
on the map between the start point and the second point.
MobileMapper Office will also start calculating the dis­tance and heading from the current location of the cursor
to the second point, plus the total length from the mea­surement’s start point.

- To stop measuring distances and headings on the map,
press the Esc key.

Deleting Features

You can delete features from the Map Display area, and so
from the open job, using the following procedure:

- Make sure none of the buttons on the toolbar are active

- Click on the feature you want to delete. The feature then
appears surrounded by a thick pink frame

- On the menu bar, select
keyboard, press the Del key. A warning message asks
you to confirm the delete operation

- Click the
the feature, or the

Yes button to let MobileMapper Office delete

Tools>Delete Feature, or on the

No button to cancel this operation.

68

To create a feature

library, see explanations

from page 76.

To create waypoints and

routes, see explanations

from page 90.

To create a background

map, see explanations

from page 94.

To choose a coordinate

system, and for more

information on coordi-

nate systems, see expla-

nations from page 103.

Working on Job Files

Creating a New Job

Before you ask field operators to create a new job, you just
need to create the appropriate feature library and upload it to
their handhelds. Field operators will then just have to create
a new job based on this feature library. But you can also pre­pare an “empty” job using the procedure below and ask field
operators to open that job for their field operations. By
“empty job” we mean “with no features logged yet in the
job.” But this empty job can contain waypoints, routes and a
background map as explained below.

You create job files using the
menu. Select
job and click the

Save from the File menu, type in a name for the

Save button to create a new *.mmj file in the

Docs folder (default folder).

A job file cannot do without a feature library as field opera­tors do need a feature library to complete their jobs. That is
why you have to import a feature library –created earlier–
into the job before uploading the job to the handheld. You
can do that using the
specifying the

Import command from the File menu,

Feature Library Files option in the Files of Type

field, selecting the feature library to associate with the job
and then clicking

Open. As a result, all the features read from

this library will appear as layers in the job.

You can also add waypoints, routes and a background map
to be part of the job. This is simply done by saving the job
when a waypoint/route list displayed in the right-hand part
of the screen and a background map is attached to the job and
shown in the Map Display area.

The coordinate system attached to the job will be the one
currently selected in MobileMapper Office. This informa­tion will be required in the handheld if you have created a list
of waypoints in the job so that the handheld can identify the
coordinate system used to express these waypoint coordi­nates.

New command from the File

69

Connecting the Handheld to the PC

- Connect the MobileMapper handheld to one of the serial
ports on your office PC using the serial cable provided
with the handheld

- If you are connecting the handheld to the PC for the first
time, do the following:

• On the menu bar, select

tings...

• In the dialog box that opens, click Autodetect.
MobileMapper then starts a sequence to determine
the port that MobileMapper is connected to, as well
as the baud rate used on the receiver side. At the end
of this sequence, the message “Found MobileMap­per” should appear as the status of one of the ports

• Click

OK to close the dialog box.

- If communication has already been established with the
receiver during this working session and you want to
make sure MobileMapper Office is still communicating
with the handheld, do the following:

• On the menu bar, select

tings...

• In the dialog box that opens, click Tes t. MobileMap­per then tests the data link to the receiver, indicating
which baud rate is used during this test. The message
“Found MobileMapper” should appear as the status
of the port connected to the handheld.

• Click

OK to close the dialog box.

Options and then GPS Set-

Options and then GPS Set-

70

You must make sure that

the SD card is inserted

into the receiver to
ensure proper data

transfer between the

handheld and

MobileMapper Office

Uploading a Job to the Handheld

First of all, you have to connect the handheld to the PC run­ning MobileMapper Office and test the connection, as ex­plained in the previous chapter.

- Open the file job in MobileMapper Office using the

File>Open command. Job filenames are in the form

“*.mmj”.

- On the menu bar of the MobileMapper Office main win­dow, select
Office then routinely searches for the right baud rate to
communicate with the handheld. When communication
is established with the handheld, the upload sequence is
automatically started. A dialog box keeps you informed
on the file being transferred. A message is also displayed
on the handheld informing you that file transfer is in
progress. These two indications disappear from the PC
and handheld screens when data transfer is complete.

IMPORTANT! When you upload a job file, not only do
you upload all the logged features, if any, contained in
this job, but also the feature library attached to the job.
All MobileMapper job files include a feature library.

File, Upload to GPS and Job.... MobileMapper

71

Downloading a Completed Job from the Handheld

MobileMapper Office uses the MobileMapper Transfer util­ity as an interface program to access the files stored on the
MobileMapper handheld.

First of all, you have to connect the handheld to the PC run­ning MobileMapper Office and test the connection, as ex­plained on page 70.

- On the menu bar, select
opens the MobileMapper Transfer window on your
screen.

The right-hand pane lists all the files present in the
default directory (...\Docs) on your PC (see example
above). The left-hand pane will list the files stored on the
handheld once the connection to this device is estab­lished.

- To connect to the handheld, on the menu bar at the top,
select successively
will cause the transfer utility to routinely test which baud
rate should be used to communicate with the handheld.
Once communication is established, the transfer utility
starts reading the content of the handheld’s memory.

File>Download from GPS. This

File>Connect>GPS Device via Cable. This

72

Downloading a job

always includes import-

ing the downloaded data

to the open job, unless

the downloaded data is

not based on the same

feature library as the

open job.

After a while, the window’s left-hand pane should list the
content of the handheld’s memory.

1. Downloading a job file

- Drag and drop this file from the left-hand pane to the
right-hand pane.

- Close the MobileMapper Transfer window. This will
cause the downloaded job to be imported into the cur­rently open job, provided both jobs use the same fea­ture library. Otherwise a message will warn you that
importing this job is impossible.

The Import operation performed in the job download­ing context is similar to using the
from the

File menu. With this function, the down-

Import command

loaded data will automatically add up to the data of
the currently open job. This means that you can
merge multiple job files created for a single project
before exporting the whole data to your GIS. In this
particular case, it is indeed very likely that all these
job files were created based on the same feature
library.

2. Deleting a file from the handheld

- Select this file in the left-hand pane and press the Del
key. MobileMapper Office then asks you to confirm
that you want to delete the file. Click Yes if that is
what you really want to do.

73

If you access the Feature

Library Editor after

opening a downloaded

job, this window will

show the definition of the

feature library that was

used to create the job.

Unlike a standalone fea-

ture library, you CAN-

NOT edit a feature

library attached to a job.

Viewing the Content of a Job

After downloading a completed job in MobileMapper Office
as explained in the previous chapter, you can also open it in
MobileMapper Office using the
sult, MobileMapper Office shows the content of this job in
the main window. First of all, you can see the list of layers
present in this job in the right-hand part of the screen. Clear
or check the buttons for the layers you want to see in the Map
Display area. If enabled for display, the background map
shown is the one currently selected in the Background Map
List.

Now the main purpose of viewing a job in MobileMapper
Office is to get a view of the features that were logged during
field operations. If enabled for display, these features are
represented on the Map Display area according to the view­ing choices made for the corresponding layers. You can do
more than just view these features. You can also view the
conditions in which these features were logged. To do that,
just click on these features, one after the other in the Map
Display area. This opens a new window in which you can see
the properties of these features. In the example below, Mo­bileMapper Office shows the properties of a line feature:

File>Open command. As a re-

74

Exporting to DXF

F

requires that a grid sys-

tem be used in the job

Note that you can also

export a job to the MM

format. Use this option

when you want to create

a standalone feature

library from the feature

library contained in this

job

Whatever the chosen

export format, all coor-

dinates of feature posi-

tions are exported in

WGS84

Exporting Jobs in GIS Formats

The most important processing of your field data is its export
to a GIS. Exporting field data has two processes: conversion
of the data files to a standard format a GIS can read and then
the actual transfer of the file.

To convert your data into SHP, MIF or DXF:

- On the menu bar, select
MobileMapper Office

- Select the file you want to export and click
content of this file is now displayed on the screen.

- Select

File>Export.

- Choose the export format (SHP, MIF, DXF -or MMF, see
opposite) from the

- Select the directory to which the reformatted file will be
transferred. If you don't know where to put this file, just
select a temporary location and click
will be automatically formatted and transferred to the
selected folder. You can select any folder that is accessi­ble by your PC - including any GIS folders that may be
on your network. When you start recording data to
export to a GIS, you will typically export data to a GIS
database.

When exporting a job file to SHP format, the following
files are created for each feature type (layer, theme) in
the file:

- featurename.shp

- featurename.dbf

- featurename.shx

When exporting a job file to MIF format, the following
files are created for each feature type (layer, theme) in
the file:

- featurename.mif

- featurename.mid

A single DXF file is created for each existing feature
type when exporting a job to DXF format.

File>Open to list the job files in

Open. The

Files of type field.

Export. Your job

75

Note the following limits

for feature libraries:

No. of feature types:

15 max.

No. of attributes

per feature: 10 max.

No. of attributes values

per Menu-style attribute:

5 max.

Using the Feature Library Editor

Introduction

MobileMapper Office allows you to create new feature li­braries using the Feature Library Editor.

Feature libraries are used by field operators as a common ba­sis for describing the features they visit in the field.

A feature library describes a number of features that Mo­bileMapper operators will have to visit in the field. Each fea­ture is defined as a set of attributes. In fact, it will be the task
of field operators to provide an attribute value for each at­tribute of a feature, depending on what they see or measure
when they are near this feature. The diagram below shows
the general architecture of a feature library through a simple
example.

Feature Library

Hydrant

(Feature #1)

xxx...

(Feature #2)

xxx...

(Feature #n)

Color

(Attribute #1)
(Menu type)

Height

(Attribute #2)
(Numeri c type)

(Street Address)

Address

(Attribute #3)
(Text type)

(Attribute values)

Red

Orange

Gray

Any value between

0.0 and 1.5 m

Any character string
20 char. max. in length

Options in the menu

76

Point feature

Line feature

There are four different types of features:

- Point feature: This feature can be described as a point,
geometrically speaking. Field operators should log point
features in static mode, i.e. they are supposed to stay sta­tionary at these points for at least one second.

- Line feature: This feature can be described as a line.
Field operators should log line features in kinematic
mode, i.e. they should start logging this type of feature at
the beginning of the line, move along this line and stop
logging when reaching the end of the line.

Regular

Area feature

Grid feature

General case

- Area feature: This feature can be described as an area.
Field operators can log area features either in kinematic
mode (general case) or in “multi-static” mode in case of
areas with regular (straight) contours.

- Grid feature: This feature defines an array of evenly
distributed waypoints where field operators record obser­vations or make measurements using some instrument.
In-depth information on grid features is given on page

86.

There are three different types of attributes:

- Menu style: the attribute value can only be one of the
preset values from a user-defined menu

- Numeric style: the attribute value can only be within a
pre-defined range of numeric values

- Te xt style: the attribute value is in text form and should
not exceed the permitted length (20 characters).

77

Creating a New, Standalone Feature Library File

- On the menu bar, select Tools, then Feature Library Editor.
This opens the Feature Library Editor window at the cen­ter of the screen.

Warning! If a job is open in MobileMapper Office’s
main window, the Feature Library Editor window then
shows the feature library used in the open job. This
library cannot be changed. That’s why you have to do the
following.

- On the menu bar, select
box opens in which you can name and choose the folder
where to store the new feature library. The default folder
is .../Docs. It is a good idea to group all feature library
files in the “Docs” default folder. These files can only be
saved as “mmf” files as mentioned in the
field.

- Enter a name for the library in the
example, type in “Libr#1” and click
of the feature library now appears on the left-hand part of
the Feature Library Editor window.

File, then Save As... A new dialog

Save as type:

File name: field. For

Save. The new name

78

Inserting New Features to the Feature Library

- In the Feature Library Editor window, right-click on the
feature library name and select
log box opens in which you can define the first feature
for the library:

Insert Feature. A new dia-

It sometimes is a good
idea to choose a name

that reflects the geometry

type of the feature. For

example, as the last 2

characters in the name,

you could use “Ln” for a

line feature, “Ar” for an
area feature, “Gd” for a

grid feature and “Pt” for

a point feature (although

point feature names are

often self-explanatory).

The reason for doing this

is that the field operator

will be able to rely on

feature names to clearly

identify the type of fea-

ture she/he selects from

the feature list.

- Enter a name for this feature in the

Feature Type Name field

(see recommendations opposite).

- Indicate the type of the feature. For example, if the fea­ture is a hydrant, check

Line, if it’s a car park, check Area, if it’s an area where

Point, if it’s a coast line, check

measurements should be performed according to a preset
array of waypoints, check

Grid. Grid features are pre-

sented in detail in a separate chapter starting on page 86.
Refer to this chapter if you need to define a new grid fea­ture.

- Click the

Add button. The Insert Feature Type dialog box

is displayed one more time so that you can now define
the second feature for the library.

- Indicate the type of the second feature as explained
above and then click the

Add button.

- Repeat the above steps until all the features have been
defined.

- After defining the last feature, click the

Close button.

79

Defining Feature Attributes

- Under the feature library name, in the left-hand part of
the Feature Library Editor window, select the first feature
name, right-click on it and select
dialog box opens where you can define the first attribute
for the feature:

Insert Attribute. A new

- Enter a name for this attribute in the

Attribute Name field

- Indicate the type of the attribute. There are three types of
attributes: Menu, Numeric and Text. If the attribute con­sists of a list of statements that the field operator will
have to choose from, check
the field operator will have to enter, check

Menu, if it refers to a number

Numeric, and if

the feature refers to a description or any other alphanu­meric string that the field operator will have to type in,
check

Tex t.

- Then click

Close after the last attribute has been defined.

Add to add another attribute for the feature, or

- Select the second feature on the left, right-click on it,
select

Insert Attribute and then define all the feature’s

attributes as explained above. Click the

Close button

when it’s done.

- Repeat the above steps until all the attributes have been
defined for all the features present in the library

80

Defining Attribute Values

You define attribute values in the right-hand pane of the Fea­ture library Editor window.

- Click on the name of the first attribute of the first feature.
The right-hand pane of the Feature Library Editor win­dow now shows a table containing the definition of this
attribute. The highlighted cell is where you can enter the
first attribute value for this attribute. Click on this cell.

- Type in the attribute value and press ENTER on your
keyboard. A new row is added in the table where you can
enter a second attribute value, etc.

- When you are done with the values of this attribute, click
on the second attribute in the left-hand pane of the Fea­ture Library Editor window. Resume the previous and
present steps as many times as necessary.

- Example of attribute values (red, orange, gray) for one of
the attributes (color) of a point feature (hydrant):

For a Menu style attribute, you should define a list of options
the field operator will have to choose from.

For a Numeric style attribute, you should define the preci­sion, default value and range of possible values for the at­tribute (minimum and maximum values).

For a Text style attribute, you should define the maximum
number of characters allowed and the default value for the
attribute.

81

Renaming a Feature, Defining its Representation on the Map

Still from the Feature Library Editor window, you can
change the name of a feature as explained below:

- In the left-hand pane of the window, click on the feature
name you want to edit. This displays the Feature Type
table on the right.

- Double-click on the cell containing the feature name (see
example below) and type in a new name

- Press the Enter key to record the change.

From the same table, you can also change the shape and as­pect given to a feature on the map.

The representation of a point feature on the map is an icon
that you can define as explained below:

Up to 22 different icons

are listed in this box.

The icon you choose

here will also be shown

on the receiver’s Map

screen during field oper-

ations dealing with fea-

tures of this type.

82

- In the Icon row of this table, click . A new dialog box
opens in which you can select a new icon for the feature:

Possible choices: 16 for

color, 3 for style and 3

for width. The choices

you make here will be

used on the receiver ’s

Map screen during field

operations dealing with

features of this type.

The representation of a line or area feature on the map is
based on line properties that you can define as explained be­low:

- In the Style/Color/Width row of this table, click . A
new dialog box opens in which you can define the prop­erties of the line representing the line feature or the con­tour of the area feature (color, style and width):

Deleting Features, Attributes or Attribute Values

The Feature Library Editor lets you delete, in a very simple
manner, any feature, attribute or attribute value option from
the open Feature Library.

- To delete a feature, you just select its name and you press
the Del key on your keyboard. Deletion is immediate as
MobileMapper Office does not require user confirma­tion. By deleting a feature, you also delete all attributes
and attribute values attached to this feature.

- To delete an attribute from a feature, expand that feature
in the left-hand pane of the Feature Library Editor win­dow, select the attribute you want to delete and press Del
on your keyboard. Deletion is immediate as MobileMap­per Office does not require user confirmation. By delet­ing an attribute, you also delete all attribute values
attached to this attribute.

83

- To delete an attribute value from the list of possible val­ues of a Menu-style attribute, first select the concerned
attribute in the left-hand pane of the Feature Library Edi­tor window. Then in the right-hand pane of this window,
highlight the cell containing the attribute value you want
to delete and press Del on your keyboard. Deletion is
immediate as MobileMapper Office does not require user
confirmation.

Saving a Feature Library

When you are done with the definition of a feature library
file, don’t forget to save the file by selecting
menu bar of the Feature Library Editor window.

File>Save on the

Attaching a Feature Library to a Job

When you want to attach a feature library to a GIS job, you
just have to import this feature library into the job open in the
main window, using the
contained in the feature library will then appear as “layers”
in that job. When you save the job, the complete feature li­brary will also be saved in this job.

Similarly, when you open a job after downloading it from a
MobileMapper handheld, then the features from the library
file used for that job will automatically appear as layers per­taining to the job. If you open the Feature Library Editor
window in that case, then it’s the feature library used in that
job that will be shown in this window.

File>Import command. The features

84

You usually have to

upload a standalone fea-

ture library file to the

handheld when it’s the

first time this feature

library is used and so

there has been no job

created yet from this

library

Importing a Feature Library from a Job or GIS File

Using the File>Import command in the Feature Library Editor
window, you can import the feature library used in an exist­ing job or from a MIF or SHP file.

Uploading a standalone feature library file

- Unless already done, select Tools>Feature Library Editor to
open the Feature Library Editor window

- Open the feature library file you want to upload using the

File>Open... command. Feature library filenames are in the

form “*.mmf”. If you want to upload the feature library
used in the open job, then you must save it as an mmf file
from within the Feature library Editor window before
you are allowed to upload this file to the handheld.

- On the menu bar of the Feature Library Editor window,
select

File and then Upload to GPS. MobileMapper Office

then routinely searches for the right baud rate to commu­nicate with the handheld. When communication is estab­lished with the handheld, the upload sequence is
automatically started. A dialog box keeps you informed
on the file being transferred. A message is also displayed
on the handheld informing you that file transfer is in
progress. These two indications disappear from the PC
and handheld screens when data transfer is complete.

85

Grid Mapper Utility

Introduction

Working with the Grid Mapper Utility is an easy way to log
GPS positions and GIS data at waypoints arranged in an
evenly spaced grid. This allows you to gather measurements

- made by field sensors such as depth sounders, chemical de­tectors and magnetometers - in an organized fashion with an
easy-to-use navigation feature. You can then create contour
maps with the necessary density of data while avoiding any
gaps that might force you to return to the field.

Grid Features vs. Grid Points

The Grid Mapper Utility refers to two different grid con­cepts: grid features and grid points.

- Grid features are arrays of uniformly spaced points ori­ented in rows and columns.

- Grid points are navigation features similar to routes.
They are created by MobileMapper Office and uploaded
to the handheld. You navigate to each grid point using
MobileMapper and record your observations or measure­ments using its data logging software.

Think of an apple orchard where the rows are about 15 feet
(5 meters) apart and each tree is about 15 feet (5 meters)
apart from the next tree in its row. The orchard is a grid fea­ture. The location of each tree is a grid point. The number of
apples on each tree is the attribute you wish to record.

Like a point, line or area feature, a grid feature is a feature
geometry type. You can see the similarity in two ways:

- Just as a line or area feature is made of a string of point
positions, a grid feature is a set of points.

- As with line and area features, a single feature type name
corresponds to the entire grid feature. In a single job, you
might record positions and descriptions of several line
features classified as “roads” and two area features clas­sified as “lakes.” And you might use one grid feature
named “water depth” and one named “magnetic field.”

86

However, line and area features differ from grid features in
two important ways:

- The positions making up line and area features mark the
locations of real things like roads, lakes, etc. But the
points making up a grid feature are imaginary target
locations that you navigate to.

- The attributes you record for a road or a lake pertain
equally to each of the point positions making up feature,
but you typically record different descriptions at each
grid point making up the grid feature.

Setting up a Grid Feature in a Feature Library file

Use the Feature Library Editor window to set up a grid fea­ture. To add a grid feature to the feature library:

- Right-click on the name of the feature library and select
the

Insert Feature option. Then select Grid as the feature

type

- Click on the

- Then define the attributes of the point feature that you
will record at each of the grid points. Do this as you
would for any point, line or area feature (see pages 80
and 81). Typically, these are text-type attributes for
visual observations and numeric-type attributes for mea­surements made with instruments. But it is also possible
to record observations using a menu-type of attributes.

Add button, then on the Close button.

Grid properties table

Editing the Grid Properties

When you are done adding attributes to the grid feature, you
will see the grid symbol and the name of the grid feature in
the tree display of the feature library. If you click on the
name of the grid feature, you will see a two-column table on
the right labeled “Feature Type.” This is where the default
values of the grid feature are indicated. If you want to change
any of these values, double click on the value and type in a
new one.

87

North

(Heading= 0°)

North

Column

Spacing

Row

Name: Feature names like “pole,” “road” or “lake” make
it easy to identify the geometry of point line and area fea­tures. This is not so easy with grid features. You might
find it helpful to insert the word “grid” into the name of
grid features. However, there is a 10-character limit to
the name length so you may prefer to name the grid types
with distinctive names like “mag. field,” “H

“CO

conc.”

2

O depth” or

2

Geometry and # of attributes: Cannot be edited

Number of Columns /Number of Rows: The easiest

way to determine how large the entire grid must be is to
measure the area using a background map showing
appropriate layers. You can draw a rectangle over the
area to be mapped and measure the two sides of the rect­angle in meters. Then divide each distance by the grid
feature’s spacing. Imagine yourself standing at one of the
two corners of the rectangle where the grid feature is
arrayed in front of you and to your right. The number of
columns is the length of the side of the rectangle to your
right divided by the grid spacing (in meters). The number
of rows is the length of the side of the rectangle in front
of you divided by the grid spacing.

Heading: The default heading is 0º (due North). If you
leave the heading at this default value it means that the
grid feature will be arrayed to the north and east of your
position because these are the directions in front of you
and to your right. If you want the grid feature oriented in
any other direction, just type in the compass direction
that you will face when standing with the grid in front of
you and to the right.

Grid spacingtep: The default value for the distance
between adjacent grid points is 50 meters. You can set
this spacing to any number of meters you would like.
This number will be automatically converted to any other
distance unit is set in the receiver.

88

When changing from the default 50 meters, keep in mind
that the selected value will determine the density of mea­surements. If this number is less than 5 meters or so,
there is no point in using a Grid feature. Simply walk
around and take samples by visually estimating the
required density. If you increase the spacing, be sure the
spacing supports the density of measurements you
require.

Uploading the Grid Feature to the Receiver

You upload grid features to the receiver by uploading the
feature library that contains it. You can either upload the fea­ture library as a standalone library that the user in the field
can select to record a new job. Or you can use MobileMap­per Office to import the feature library into a job created in
the office. Either way, you just have to click on

GPS

and select the file you want to use in the field.

If you want to inform the field user where to begin logging
the grid feature, just create a waypoint in MobileMapper Of­fice by clicking on
change the name from the default “WPT001” to a name tell­ing the user that this is the point of beginning for logging a
grid. Then upload this waypoint as described on page 71.

Tools>Place Waypoints. Make sure you

File>Upload to

89

Using the Waypoint/Route Editor

Introduction

The Waypoint/Route Editor allows you to easily create a list
of waypoints that might be useful for the field operator when
she/he is performing a GIS job. For example one of these
waypoints may help to localize a hardly visible feature.

The Waypoint/Route Editor also allows you to build new
routes, based on the existing list of waypoints.

To save your waypoints and routes, you just need to save the
currently open job. When you do that and there are way­points and routes in the job, then MobileMapper Office cre­ates a separate wpt file containing this list of waypoints and
routes.

Placing Waypoints

- First of all, click the down arrow next to on the tool
bar and select the region where your jobs are going to
take place. As a result, a map of your region appears on
the Map Display area.

- On the toolbar, click and then draw a rectangle
around the part of the map you want to enlarge. When
releasing the mouse, the map scale is adjusted so the
Map Display area only shows this part of the map.

Creating a waypoint

90

- On the toolbar, click . This opens a new window in
the right-hand part of the window where you can edit
your definitions of waypoints.

- Click on the Map Display area where your first waypoint
should be located. A waypoint icon now appears on the
map with the name of the waypoint displayed next to it
(see example opposite).

Editing a waypoint

Defining the name and

icon of the next waypoint

Waypoint table

- In the right-upper part of the window (see example oppo­site), you can now make changes to the definition of this
waypoint (name, coordinates, icon, optional comment).

- Next to this definition area, you can also define the name
and icon for the next waypoint you will create

- When you are done with the definition of the first way­point, create the second waypoint by clicking on the map
where this second waypoint should be located. Again,
you can adjust the definition of this waypoint in the
right-upper part of the window, etc.

Note that a waypoint table is updated in the right-lower
part of the window as you create new waypoints. You
can scroll this table horizontally and edit each of the cells
if necessary. The second column (Name) contains a
check button allowing you to show/hide each waypoint
icon & name on the Map Display area.

Creating Waypoints from the Waypoint Table

Another very quick way of creating new waypoints is to use
the aforementioned waypoint table.

- Right-click anywhere over this table and select

point

in the pop-up menu. As a result a new waypoint is
added in the waypoint table with default parameters and
“zero” coordinates.

- You can then edit each cell to complete the definition of
the new waypoint. The waypoint will then appear on the
map (if located within the area covered by this map).

New Way-

91

Use the View function

when you have some dif-

ficulty finding a way-

point on the map

because there are lots of

them, or simply because

you don’t want to spend

too much time search-

ing for it

Finding a Waypoint on the Map

MobileMapper Office helps you locate rapidly a waypoint.

- In the waypoint table, right-click on the row containing
the definition of the waypoint and select

View. The map is

then moved accordingly within the Map Display area so
as to take the searched waypoint exactly at the center of
the Map Display area.

Deleting Waypoints

Waypoints can only be deleted individually from the way­point table.

- Select the row containing the waypoint you want to
delete

-Press the

Delete. Waypoints are deleted instantly, without user con-

firmation.

You can also delete all the existing waypoints and routes
through a single operation by selecting the
option from the
fice will prompt you to save all these waypoints and routes
in a separate wpt file before actually deleting them from the
waypoint table (i.e. from the currently open job). If you click

Yes you will have to name the wpt file and specify the folder

where to store that file.

Del key or right-click on the row and select

Clear All Waypoints

Too ls menu. In that case, MobileMapper Of-

92

Creating a four-way-

point route

Building a Route

After you have created a number of waypoints as explained
in the previous chapter, you can now define routes graphical­ly. Follow the instructions below to do this.

- On the toolbar, click . This opens a new window in the
right-upper part of the window where MobileMapper
automatically creates a new route named “Route1” (if it’s
the first one in the list) (see opposite). Note that
MobileMapper Office continues to display the waypoint
table below this window.

- Come back to the Map Display area and click on the
waypoint that you want to define as the route’s start point

- Then click on the second point, then on the third, etc.
Every time you click a new waypoint, “Finish” is dis­played next to this waypoint which means you don’t
have to do anything special to end the definition of the
route. MobileMapper Office will “understand” that the
route definition is complete when you proceed to another
task in the software.

Note that you can edit the name of the route by double­clicking on it. You can also remove a waypoint from the
route by right-clicking on it and selecting
Map Display area is then updated to reflect that change
in the definition of the route.

Delete. The

93

Please, carefully read

the explanations oppo-

site to understand the

difference between a

background map

“project” and the result-

ing “background map”

on the Map Display area

Background Maps

Introduction

Background maps are designed to provide useful details on
working areas. Field operators might like to see these details
on their handheld screens as they progress in their jobs so
that they can more easily go to the places they have to visit.

Background maps are for viewing only. You cannot edit
them or access information on their features. They provide a
backdrop, which gives visual orientation for your data and
waypoint files.

Background maps are shown in the Map Display area of the
MobileMapper Office main window. They are independent
of jobs. Whether there is an open job or not, you can have a
background map displayed in this area. You may create this
background map once and then it can be used as a back­ground for many jobs at a certain location.

Background map projects are created using the Create Map
editor. The notion of “ background map project” allows you
to define the different layers the background map will result
from, plus a number of parameters, i.e. map scale setting,
map name, etc. Use the
access the Create Map editor. Background map projects are
saved as separate files with the “mmp” extension.

Once you have defined and saved a background map project,
you will then have to use the
to build the actual background map for the open background
map project.

Usually it takes time to create a map, so it would be a benefit
to do that once. After the background map is created, it will
appear in the Background Maps list with the given name, and
it can be selected at any time as a background for various job
data.

Tools>Background Maps command to

Operations>Create Map command

94